Apple Updates the Mac Mini with a Major Redesign June 15, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple , add a comment
Looking for a new computer, but not necessarily sure you want a laptop? Want a Mac but don’t want to pay $1000 for one? If your interested in either of those two questions then your gonna wanna check this out– Apple’s latest updates to their Mac Mini line, and boy do they look nice.
As you can see in the pic above, Apple is finally bringing the aluminum design found on the iPad, iMac and MacBook Pro lines to the Mac Mini– and it looks like a match made in heaven. Seriously, look at the pic above. Thinner, sleeker– heck it looks like something you’d wanna put in a living room like a media center, this looks nothing like a small desktop computer at all. And maybe that was the point. Apple not only gave the new Mini a better look, but some media friendly (and frankly long awaited) features like an HDMI port (for hooking up to screens like say an HDTV) and an SD card slot. Yeah, way more media friendly and it looks to me like an Apple TV on some crazy awesome steroids.
The new Mini also got some nice spec updates like the ones the MacBook received recently, with the base $699.99 model offering a 2.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo processor (able to be bumped up to 2.66 GHZ), 2 GB of RAM (customizable to 8 GB), 320 GB hard drive (can be customized to 500 GB), and much improved graphics thanks to the NVIDIA 320M graphics card. Oh, and unlike older Mac Minis, Apple somehow was able to get the power supply built into the casing, something that not only adds to the sleekness but also makes it even more energy efficient (which is remarkable considering that they made it so much smaller). In other words– there is no longer a giant power brick needed (another seemingly underrated but still huge improvement).
The new Mac Minis are available now from Apple’s site starting at $699.
Apple Launches Annual Back-to-School Sale June 1, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple , add a comment
While we are all counting down the final few weeks left of school, the folks over at Apple have just begun the 2010 version of their back-to-school sale.
Like in years past, the sale includes discounts on all the new Macs and MacBooks, ranging from $50 the new, updated MacBook, to up to $200 off the new updated MacBook Pros (the MacBook Air and iMac also get $100 discounts respectively). And of course, all new purchases under these back-to-school deals include either a free 8 GB iPod touch, 4 GB iPod Shuffle or 8 GB or 16 GB iPod Nano (all after a rebate, and if you want more storage, you can instead get a 32 GB iPod touch for only $100, 64 GB iTouch for $200, or a 120 GB iPod Classic for only $50).
The deal sadly though still only applies for college students (including those enrolled for the upcoming year– as long as you got an acceptance letter, you should be all clear) and teachers and staff (though for teachers and staff of schools can take advantage of the deals no matter what grade level they work on be it Kindergarten or 12th grade), leaving all us high school students having to find someone who fits the bill to get us to use the deal.
One Note: If you are looking for a new MacBook or MacBook Pro for school next year, this looks to be the perfect deal for you. But if its the free iPod touch that intrigues you, we just want to warn you that Apple usually updates the iPod line after these deals end (September 7th), and this year’s model is expected to finally get that long rumored camera…. Decisions, decisions, but hey, that’s what school is for.
The Back to School sale runs from now until September 7th, and you can check it out at Apple’s online store.
Apple Updates the MacBook May 23, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Apple, Computers , add a comment
Looking for a MacBook with all the basic specs but not interested in spending an extra $200 on the all-aluminum design of the 13-inch MacBook Pro? Apple has announced this week some modest, yet nice updates to the MacBook line that pretty much puts the two models in the same ballpark.
As we saw in the recent MacBook Pro update, the big gains on the Macbook were not in design (the Macbook still rocks the new unibody plastic with the glass multitouch trackpad, and still lacks the SD card slot found on the MacBook Pro) but graphics and battery life. It boasts the new NVIDIA 320M graphics and a 10 hour battery, while also bumping up other specs like the Intel Core 2 Duo processor (up to 2.4 GHZ standard like on the MacBook Pro 13, compared to the 2.26 GHZ of the previous models).
The best part though is that Apple did all this while keeping the price the same old at $999 (with the Education Store offering it for $949), which is still $200 cheaper than the 13 inch Aluminum MacBook Pro. Its worth noting, however, that the Pro ships with 4 GB of RAM compared to the MacBook’s standard 2, though for $100 you could upgrade the RAM to 4 GB, and for another $50 the hard drive to 320 GB– a significant increase from the 250 GB standard of both models. All that still leaves the Macbook $50 cheaper.
Why Apple would update this to be so close to their high end line in terms of pure specs I’m not sure, but in any case– anyone out there looking for a new MacBook gonna go with this over the MacBook Pro 13?
The new MacBooks are available now from Apple.com.
First Look: Microsoft Office 2010 May 16, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers, First Look/Reviews, Microsoft , 1 comment so far
A lot (if not pretty much all) of us have relied on Microsoft’s Office software for our lives over the years, whether for notes, school papers, or creating fliers. Every couple of years Microsoft introduces a major revision to the Office line, and 2010 is another one of those years. And while the basics of PowerPoint, Word, OneNote and all the other Office programs have stayed the same, there have been some pretty solid improvements that while may not be “must haves,” are without question appreciated and make Office even better and easier to use.
I’ve been testing out the beta (i.e. testing, not final) version of Office 2010 as my main Office suite for the past couple of months– using it to write papers, take notes, manage email, and create presentations; and I got to say– I really like it better than the older Office 2007. I’m not gonna go into a full out review of the new Office yet (partly because not everything is finalized in the beta I’m using), but here are a few thoughts.
HP Introduces the New Envy 14 and Envy 17 May 8, 2010
Posted by Eli Blumenthal in : Computers , add a comment
So you’re in the market for a new sleek, stylish, all-aluminum laptop but don’t want something from a company with a fruit as it’s logo. What you gonna do? If I were in your spot I’d take a look at HP’s updates to their high-end Envy line (which you may recall we covered last year). HP really is providing some solid alternatives to those MacBook Pros, particularly with these new updates on the new Envy 17 and Envy 14 (which replaces the Envy 13). What’s in these new laptops? Read on for all the details.
Doxie – Scanner of Awesomeness? April 14, 2010
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, First Look/Reviews , 2comments
Doxie. Saving my back in the near future?
So, this one’s a bit out there for me, but it was too cool not to let you guys know about. Yes, a scanner. But hear me out. Scanning stuff, if you think about it for a student, is a great idea. And I carry around 50 pounds of folders every day to know that I carry around more paper with me then that produced by a court of law. But yesterday, I came across this. Doxie. A small, portable, full color scanner. Easily could fit in a schoolbag or locker – just slide the paper right through. Scans in color and black and white.
And suddenly, a vision came into my head. Of getting a handout from my history teacher – of all the hundreds of handouts I’ve gotten. And just scanning them in on the spot. Never having to carry around asignment sheets for essays, never losing another critical chart – the potential is HUGE, especially for a student. And if all it did was just scan, that’d be great. But Doxie takes it a step further – by having built in integration with a whole bunch of stuff – including Acrobat, Google Docs, Flickr, Evernote, Twitter, iPhoto – just scan and have it automatically imported, or sent out to the internet cloud. And the dream gets better – not just scanning all my school stuff, but having them available for my whole class on our Google Group through Google Docs.
Furthermore, it’s totally portable – just plug it into a laptop – it powers off USB, and you’re all set. It’s also got some slick photo scanning tricks up it’s sleeve – automatically straightening, cropping, and importing to the photo software or site of your choice. So for anyone looking to have a scanner for non-school stuff, it’s not bad.
The clincher though is price – $130. Before you start losing it over a scanner that costs more then a Benjamin, go to Staples or Best Buy and search for scanner. I’ll wait. Most scanners, you might have seen, cost equal or significantly more – arguably, they offer higher resolution, and such, but lack the portability and application support Doxie has. And lets face it, you’re NEVER going to need to do anything beyond basic scanning.
Basically – I seriously want one of these. A portable scanner designed for sharing, uploading, and documents sounds perfect for a teenager – whether you’re looking to go paperless in school, or just manage your old-school pictures.
Check out Doxie here.
(And to the guys out there – it comes with some skins for the device, so you don’t have to carry something around with hearts on it.)
[Photo credit - getdoxie.com]
HP Slate – the iPad Killer? April 13, 2010
Posted by Zev Rosenbaum in : Computers, Microsoft, Tablets , comments closed
Back in January, we caught a short glimpse of the HP Slate, HP’s new tablet. Last week, Engadget uncovered some “unofficial” specs of the new tablet compared to the iPad. Later that day HP released a trailer of the Slate doing things that the iPad can’t do, including video chatting and taking pictures (that’s right, two cameras– one on the front for video chatting and one on the back for taking regular pictures), as well as:
- 8.9 inch multi-touch screen, with stylus support– While this is a drop smaller than the iPad’s bigger 9.7 inch screen, the ability to use a stylus for writing on it is very interesting, particularly for use in school.
- A USB slot– shown ironically through connecting an iPod cable to the Slate, which can run iTunes because…
- The Slate runs on Windows 7 (with some custom HP Touch software thrown in as well)
- Available with either 32 or 64 GB of storage– Like the iPad, just you can also add even more storage via an SD card slot with room to add up to a massive 128 GB! (Though don’t run for that 128 GB yet, as it probably right now costs about as much as the whole tablet, though still awesome for future use.)
- WiFi and optional 3G for $50 more– meaning that for $600 you get a 32 GB Slate with 3G, compared to $730 for a 32 GB iPad WiFi+3G (this is even cheaper than the 16 GB WiFi+3G which starts at $630). No word on what data plans for this will be like (if they’ll be like the iPads $15 for 250 MB a month and $30 for unlimited or like the usual $60 for a laptop data plan).
- Output to an HDTV through some sort of dock– so you can share your photos and videos on your big HDTV.
- A base price of $549 for 32 GB Slate and $599 for the 64 GB model (both without the optional 3G), whereas with the WiFi only 32 GB iPad starts at $600 and the 64 GB start out at $700.
Obviously, the Skype and camera features could make the HP Slate a thorn in the iPad’s side and we will see if these features will make the HP Slate more customer-friendly than the iPad (just as a note: HP hasn’t officially released a spec sheet of the Slate nor announced pricing, things– like pricing– is still very much rumor and subject to change). Check out one of the HP promo videos of the Slate, as well as the leaked iPad-Slate comparison sheet after the break.
More then Just Chips – Intel Youth Rock Stars Summit February 10, 2010
Posted by Chaim Gartenberg in : Computers, Teen Info , add a comment
