[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGevFIVKw4&w=560&h=340]
We know a lot of Mac users are excited at the in-development fast-as-a-fast thing Light Peak interconnect technology currently being put together by Intel, but this isn
We know it
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOKu9uwdwZI&w=700&h=400]
If you are in the market for a desktop or NAS/Server hard drive, you’ve no doubt been checking out some of the 2TB drives pictured above. HotHardware just reviewed most of the majors in the market from Western Digital, Seagate and Samsung.
There are 10 pages of hard drive testing glory, but like a lot of people, we’re most interested in the results:
Ultimately, our picks for each class of drive are as follows. For general-purpose drives, you’d think it would be a no-brainer and we’d pick the Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB($139) for its relative high performance and great value. The problem is, it has a much lower load/unload rating of 50,000 cycles, versus 300,000 cycles for the other general-purpose drives–the Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB uses the older Contact Start-Stop (CSS) technology to park its heads, while the other drives use the more updated and more reliable Ramp Loading technology. Once we took the Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB out of the running, it was a very close call between the Samsung EcoGreen F3 2TB($179) and WD Caviar Green 2TB ($139.99), but we ultimately chose the Samsung EcoGreen F3 2TB because of its speedier overall performance. For the performance drives it was a much tougher call; but with almost identical overall performance, the Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB ($275) edged out the WD Caviar Black 2TB ($279), due to the Barracuda XT’s lower price tag and lower power consumption (see the specs tables on page three of this roundup). For the enterprise-class drives, it’s a runaway, with the WD RE4 2TB ($285) as the undisputed performance leader that also has high reliability ratings.
They also give the Western Digital AV-GP($173) high marks in media centers for being quiet and able to withstand high temperatures.
FWIW, I bought two WD Caviar Green w/64MB cache ($139) for my home NAS and they’ve been perfect so far. via Engadget
iFixit’s mid 2010 MacBook Pro teardown reveals a few interesting tidbits:
Apple today continues with the updates. Everyone (Leopard+Snow Leopard) got Security Update 2010-003 while Mac Server administrators get numerous improvements to their Admin Tools.
Meanwhile, 27-inch iMac owners got a Firmware update that resolves CPU Audio handling and power-on backlight issues. Hit Software Update for the details.
Update: EventBrite took their site down, likely indicating that Apple will not release any new products at the event.
Update2: Their VP of Operations got back to us and tried to distance themselves from the “Please join Apple for an update on their latest hardware and software products.” statement. They’d like this post to be removed.
We thought Apple had stopped doing smaller shows like NAB in 2007 where they released Final Cut Studio 2. However, it appears (via MacSoda) that Apple might be attending NAB 2010 and may have some new products to announce:
“Please join Apple for an update on their latest hardware and software products. Lunch will be provided to all those attending.“
Date: Wednesday April 14th, 2010
Time: 11:30am – 12:30pm
Where: Renaissance Hotel, Las Vegas
2nd Floor “Rainbow” Conference Room
Please take a moment to RSVP above as space is limited.
If you have any questions, please email Jenny Neymark, Marketing Events Coordinator, or call 877.761.9770.
The speculation last year was that Apple will again be releasing a new version of its Final Cut Studio Software (3.5? 4?) and possibly some updates to some of its video production hardware. It was last updated in July of 2009. As Steve Jobs said, Final Cut Pro is alive and well.
Also, professionals like Mac Pros and Xserves.
We just called Renaissance Hotel to confirm. They said there is indeed an Apple event on Wednesday. Audio file here.
According to a Reddit User, Microcenter has a few new Mac systems. Yeah, them MacBook Pros again. We’ll see on Tuesday…full screenshot below. Here’s how they might break down:
15″ Base MC371LL – $1799 (up $100?)
15″ middle of the roadMC372LL – $1999
15″ High endMC373LL – $2199
17″ MC024LL – $2299
All Discrete graphics (obviously with Core i7)
The breakdown seems similar to that Kiwi post we had a few months ago.
Next Media’s Chinese Language Taiwan Apple Daily today reports that New MacBook Pros are going into production this month. The report says delays were due to short supplies of Intel’s Core iX series of laptop processors. The new MacBooks had originally been scheduled to be released in March.
The report also says that updated MacBook Airs will receive the Intel Core i3 series chips.
They list Quanta, Hon Hai, Hong-jun, Nikko, Chao Li as manufacturers.
Finally, the report states that new MacBook Pros will top out at 640GB Hard drives or 248GB SSDs and that battery life had been increased to eight hours.
Apple holds its annual WWDC conference in June, which would make a great place for an introduction.
Update: There is some ambiguity as to whether the MacBook Pro will actually ship in April. Even our Chinese readers are having a difficult time understanding the verbiage. As near as we can tell the release will start in April but orders may not catch up to demand until June?
Word to word translation:
?new??notebook?though?than??before??expected??release??time??delay?about1??month??but4?April?start??supply?increase?quantity?[supply notebook or parts?]??????6?(Can see orders through June)
Thanks tipstar!
You can’t argue with these numbers:
Apple today updated Aperture to 3.0.2 to support iPad and fix some lingering problems from the previous releases. Apple says 3.02 “Enables support for importing photos from iPad to the Aperture Library, as well as syncing of photos to iPad.”
Interesting. Why would you need to import photos from a device without a camera? Yes, the iPad has a camera attachment, but why wouldn’t you do that directly to your Mac?
Also, iMovie 8.06 updated as well. Full release notes below:
Aperture 3.0.2 Release Notes
This update improves overall stability and fixes issues in a number of areas. The key areas addressed include:
iPhoto Library Import
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to erroneously report the amount of hard drive space required to import an iPhoto Library.
Aperture now displays an estimate of the amount of free hard drive space needed to import an iPhoto Library.
Addresses memory management issues when importing large iPhoto libraries.
Rotation of iPhone photos is now preserved when importing from an iPhoto Library.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding when attempting to play a slideshow imported from an iPhoto Library.
Image Import
During import, Aperture now correctly reads image ratings, color labels, and GPS data stored in XMP sidecar files.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding if both the Auto-split projects and Auto-Stack options were used together during import.
Addresses an issue that could prevent the Import window from automatically opening when a memory card is mounted.
Aperture now provides correct options when importing hierarchical folders of photos into a library.
Library
The amount of free hard drive space required to upgrade an Aperture Library is now displayed if sufficient space is not available.
Fixes an issue that caused Aperture to overestimate the amount of free hard disk space needed to upgrade an Aperture 1.x or 2.x library.
Fixes an issue that caused thumbnails to take up more disk space than needed.
Addresses stability when importing an Aperture 2 library into an Aperture 3 library.
Addresses some performance issues when opening and closing libraries.
Export
Addresses an issue that prevented Library Albums from being exported properly as standalone libraries.
Fixes an issue that could cause the Email command to use an incorrect export preset when attaching photos to an email.
Canceling a library export now correctly moves the cancelled library to the Trash.
Color labels on non-image files, such as video and audio clips, are now preserved in the Finder when exporting versions.
Adjustments
Addresses issues with retouching 16-bit images.
Fixes an issue that caused the Straighten tool to work incorrectly on flipped images.
Fixes an issue that caused Aperture to quit unexpectedly when Curves was used on JPEGs with a custom printer profile.
Adjustment presets that include brushed adjustments are now correctly rendered when imported into another copy of Aperture.
Fixes a temporary slowdown or potential unexpected quit that could occur when canceling the Reprocess Masters command.
Images are now stacked in the correct order when using the “Create new version when making adjustments” option.
It is now possible to pause preview generation.
Preview generation for adjusted images is now faster.
Addresses an issue where using a large number of Spot and Patch adjustments could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly.
Printing
Fixes an issue that could cause custom print presets to be displayed in the wrong order in the print dialog.
Print presets now correctly retain printer choice, paper size, orientation, and other printer settings when saved.
Addresses an issue that prevented custom print presets from retaining color profile settings.
The Print dialog now correctly defaults to the last print preset that was used.
Settings such as Image Size, Rows and Columns, Resolution, and Rendering Intent are automatically remembered for next use when choosing Cancel in the Print window.
Addresses an issue that could prevent custom print presets from being saved.
Addresses an issue that prevented custom margins from being saved in print presets.
The Image Size pop-up menu now includes a 4 x 5 setting.
Trash
Fixes an issue that could result in a slowdown when emptying the Aperture Trash.
Fixes an issue that caused the progress indicator to display inaccurate data when emptying the Trash.
Faces
Fixes an issue that could cause a spinning wait cursor to appear when attempting to move snapshots on the Faces corkboard.
Fixes usability issues with auto-completion from Address Book when adding names to Faces.
Aperture now correctly remembers the state of the Faces and Photos buttons when matching photos in the Faces view.
Addresses an issue that slowed performance when using Confirm Faces.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when browsing rapidly in the Viewer with the Names overlay turned on.
Addresses a face correlation issue that could sometimes prevent Aperture from suggesting potential matches.
Places
Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to report an incorrect number of items when the Show Unplaced Images option was chosen In the Places view.
Addresses an issue that could cause Aperture to stop responding when opening Places with a large number of locations assigned.
Fixes an issue that could cause Aperture to quit unexpectedly when importing a GPS log file.
Metadata
Addresses compatibility issues affecting XMP sidecar files exported with masters.
The Duplicate Preset command now correctly duplicates the data in all fields when duplicating a metadata preset.
Fixes an issue that could cause a spinning wait cursor to appear when creating or duplicating metadata presets.
Audio/Video
Fixes an issue that caused externally-edited video and audio clips to lose their original date/time stamp.
Books
Fixes an issue with saving changes to custom books when the custom theme is not present.
Search
Fixes an issue that could cause the built-in smart albums listed under the Library Albums to filter images incorrectly.
Search by the Flash EXIF field now returns correct results.
Addresses the reliability of searches for text containing special characters.
Flickr publishing
Fixes an issue that could prevent the Cancel button from working when setting up an export to Flickr.
Watermarking
Watermarks are now correctly saved as part of an export preset.
Watermarks now remain unscaled when the Scale Watermark box is left unchecked.
General
Addresses an issue that prevented View modes from being changed using keyboard shortcuts while in Full Screen view.
Restores the ability to navigate photos in the Viewer by scrolling. (Turn this option on in General Preferences).
Fixes an issue that caused the Query HUD to overlap t
he Filmstrip in Full Screen view.
Double-clicking on a project name in Projects view now displays the contents of the project.
Fixes an issue that could cause projects to be appear under the wrong year header when using Group by Year.
The name of
the version or master being processed is now displayed during face detection, export, and preview generation.
Resolves performance issues when using zoom in Viewer.
iPad Compatibility
Enables support for importing photos from iPad to the Aperture Library, as well as syncing of photos to iPad.
An announcement of an announcement as Tidbits says…
Adobe will formally announce their CS5 Suite of applications on Monday April 12th at 11am EDT. If you register or already a Adobe user, you can get a feed of the announcement live. Also there are currently eight sneak preview videos on Adobe’s website.
Beyond what’s been profiled in Flash CS5’s ability to export .ipa files for the iPhoneOS, not too much is known about CS5 (will palettes be standardized across all apps?). There might even be a new application in the mix.
19 days until liftoff.
Here’s an interesting new graphic today from SAI. Any bragging about Apple margins is a double edged sword because that means Mac users are padding Apple’s pockets so much more than PC users. But if you own Apple’s stock, you’re happy to know that, even though Apple only gets 7% of the total PC revenue, they get 35% of the profit.
The WSJ today reports that the big announcement that Cisco’s been hyping all week is actually a faster router. While that may not be as exciting a s a new tablet device (or it may be depending on your tastes), it will hopefully have some effect on Apple customers. The WSJ profiled AT&T and specifically their wireless (read:iPhone) customers who are the major catalyst for new broadband:
AT&T, meanwhile, said the 100-gigabit backbone Internet network would support growing wireless and wired data and traffic “for years to come.” In particular, AT&T has dealt with the explosive growth in wireless data, primarily driven by the Apple Inc. iPhone, among other smart phones. The router “allows us to serve volumes of traffic that we need to serve,” said Keith Cambron, CEO of AT&T Labs.
AT&T has stated that they are working hard on bringing up their wireless speeds but first must upgrade their backhaul. That’s where the Cisco CSR-3 would come in handy, delivering much more data over the same lines.AT&T have also stated that they don’t anticipate much additional traffic from Apple’s iPad – something we’ll start to understand at the end of April.
Unless you’ve been hiding in a cave, you’ll have known that Apple was having serious issues with that gorgeous new 27-inch iMac that they released for the holidays last year (but got pulled during the holiday shopping season). Up until now, all Apple’s PR machine could muster was:
An Apple spokesman said again this week that
That Pennsylvania case of Administrators spying on kids’ 1-to-1 loaned Macbooks using Apple Remote Desktop doesn’t seem to be an isolated one. Here’s what happens in the Bronx (fast forward to 4:40 for specifics). Would this be acceptable if it were only on the school’s network?
You know a lot of companies often do this to their employees, right?
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) has launched a call for economy in smartphone application design.
With Apple
Apple today released Mac Pro Audio update 1.0 that addresses the CPU overheating issues we talked about last month caused by playing audio. The update is also available via Software Update.
Macworld starts tomorrow and we’ll be on the floor looking at all of the new/upgraded products on display. The event has decidedly less attention this year due to Apple’s bypassing, but there is still no other gathering outside of Apple’s own events with a bigger Apple audience.
Although Apple won’t officially be here, we’ve been invited to check out Apple’s subsidiaries who have rented hotel space near Moscone to show their wares as well.
If you are coming to the event, you might want to check out the free iMacworld app for iPhone and iPod touch to help navigate the show floor space. If you want to get in contact with us, shoot an email to macworld2010@9to5mac.com.
Some news from the Mac development realm today: OS X 10.6.3 build 10D548 was released to developers last night.
From the seed notes:
Included in this update:
– Performance improvements for 64-bit Logic
– Addresses compatibility issues with OpenGL-based applications
– Includes changes to QuickTime X that increase reliability, improve compatibility and address security.
– Improves printing reliability and compatibility with 3rd party printers
– Respects the DNS server ordering as specified in Network Preferences
– Addresses an issue that causes background message colors to display incorrectly in Mail when scrolling
– Resolves an issue that prevented files with the # or & in their names from opening in Rosetta
– Resolves an issue that prevented files from copying to Windows shares
– Resolves an issue that caused machines using BTMM and the Bonjour Sleep Proxy to wake unexpectedly
Focus Areas
– AirPort
– GraphicsDrivers
– iCal
– QuickTime
– Printing
But the biggest news?
Known Issues
– none
Which means we might see it sooner rather than later.
You hardcore Mac workstation users might want to cut the music when it’s time to start rendering your big projects if the latest Ars tale is to be believed. According to the story, Mac Pros exhibit a strange behavior when using iTunes, Quicktime or keeping USB audio interfaces plugged in:
The problem manifests as what has been described as excessive increases in power use and processor core heat when playing songs in iTunes, watching videos via Quicktime, or even when keeping USB or FireWire-based audio interfaces plugged in and active. While hardware monitors only report a small percentage of processor use, it can still cause performance decreases of up to 20 percent for other tasks.
The problem only affects all 2009 Nehalem-based Mac Pros. Strangely, booting affected Mac Pros into Windows 7 also eliminates the problems, leading one user to suspect the issue is related to power management kernel extensions.
A young hacker involved in the hackintosh scene believes the problem is related to the driver that controls newer features of the Nehalem Xeons, including SpeedStep and Turbo Boost. He generated a hacked power management kernel extension that disabled these features, which eliminated the high heat and power draw issues while playing audio. With SpeedStep disabled, however, the CPU drew more power at idle.
It might be best to wait for Apple to release a software update patch for this one, however. In the meantime, listen to your iPod.
Just saw this for the first time just now. It and the accompanying story are a bit over the top.
Here’s a little interview with former Apple Senior Systems Engineer Edward Eigerman on what it is like to work at Apple and go to an Apple event without knowledge of what your own company is about to do.
Interesting perspective to say the least (Bloomberg lady compares to terrorist org!?). Eigerman now works as a technology consultant in the New York area. He is principal of Eigerman Consulting, Inc.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JXRy8hO8g0&w=640&h=505]
Advertised as faster than Apple’s and “sealed in the box”, someone is selling some pretty speedy Mac Pros on eBay. They’ve likely bought the Intel 8 core 3.33GHz Nehalem chips and transplanted those chips into a base model Mac Pro. Then “sealed” them in the box.
Still. If you need the fastest Mac around
