Articles about MacBook

Apple's super-thin MacBook is wonderful in many areas; however, there is a particular aspect that is arguably deficient. You see, it has a cutting-edge USB 3.1 Type-C port, which is awesome, but that, unfortunately, is the only port (besides a 3.5mm audio jack).

If you need to connect multiple USB Type-A devices, or access an SD (or micro SD) card, you are out of luck. Luckily, accessory-makers are always creating products to meet consumers' needs. Today, Satechi announces its Type-C Hub Adapter for Apple MacBook.

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While I am not a huge fan of the Surface Book, some people apparently are. You see, the high-priced hybrid computer is, according to Microsoft, selling well. Could Apple fans be converting?

The Windows-maker is clearly targeting Mac users with this offering, as it constantly compares it to the MacBook Pro. Just in case Microsoft is successful in converting a few OS X users, the company has launched a new website titled 'Making the switch: MacBook to Microsoft Surface Book', to help with the transition.

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If you've been thinking of investing in a new computer, Microsoft has an incentive that might just help to convince you that the time is right. You've probably got an old computer laying around that you need to get rid of, and Microsoft will happily take it off your hands and give you cash into the bargain.

The Trade Up program offers a minimum of $200 for a laptop trade-in, up to $300 for a MacBook. The caveat? The Windows 10 computer you buy must cost at least $599. The deal is running in the US and UK -- but people in the UK have a different, and somewhat less impressive, deal available to them.

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Laptops are designed to be portable, but you are crazy to carry it under your arm or in a chintzy bag. You paid good money for the thing, so you should protect it. While backpacks are the most logical choice for comfort and weight distribution, they are not exactly stylish (you will look like a high-school student). Carrying a messenger bag is surely the more trendy option, if that sort of thing matters to you.

Today, booq announces an all-new notebook messenger bag called 'The Shadow'. Not only is it stylish (for both men and women), but it will accommodate 15 inch laptops and smaller, plus additional accessories too.

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Starting in 1977 I bought a new personal computer every three years. This changed after 2010 when I was 33 years and eleven computers into the trend. That’s when I bought my current machine, a mid-2010 13-inch MacBook Pro. Five years later I have no immediate plans to replace the MacBook Pro and I think that goes a long way to explain why the PC industry is having sales problems.

My rationale for changing computers over the years came down to Moore’s Law. I theorized that if computer performance was going to double every 18 months, I couldn’t afford to be more than one generation behind the state-of-the-art if I wanted to be taken seriously writing about this stuff. That meant buying a new PC every three years. And since you and I have a lot in common and there are millions of people like us, the PC industry thrived.

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Apple has launched a new version of Boot Camp that brings full Windows 10 support. The latest version of Microsoft's operating system cannot be installed on all Macs, but there is a fairly extensive list of models that can run Windows 10.

Boot Camp 6 is gradually rolling out, and brings support to Windows 10 for a number of Mac features including Thunderbolt. Apple explains that it is possible to upgrade an existing Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 8.1 to Windows 10, but also provides full instructions for how to start from scratch.

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Measured as sales through the U.S. consumer retail channel, Macs reached rather shocking milestone during first half 2015, according to data that NPD provided to me today. Yes, you can consider this a first, and from lower volume shipments. By operating system: OS X, 49.7 percent; Windows, 48.3 percent; Chrome OS, 1.9 percent. That compares to the same time period in 2014: OS X, 44.8 percent; Windows, 53.1 percent; Chrome OS, 2.1 percent. So there is no confusion, the data is for U.S. consumer laptops.

While data junkie journalists or analysts often focus on unit shipments, revenues, and subsequently profits, matter much more. Looked at another way, Mac laptop revenues rose by 10.9 percent during the first six months of 2015, year over year, while Windows PCs fell by 9 percent, and Chromebooks contracted by 9.5 percent.

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One of the main benefits to owning a MacBook is the superb battery life. Apple's laptops can work for a great deal of time on battery power alone, thanks in no small part to the numerous improvements made to OS X in recent years. Take my 2013 13-inch MacBook Air for example: it gets well over six hours of battery life on Yosemite, despite being nearly two years old at this stage. I rarely have to worry about plugging it in.

In fact, it could last even longer. The trick is not to use Chrome, which, despite Google's recent efforts to lower its power consumption, continues to be the most power-hungry major browser on OS X, more so than Apple's Safari and Mozilla's Firefox.

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Reviewing most any MacBook Pro is a pointless exercise, because this year's model isn't much different from the previous—or the one before. That's why I typically buy refurbished rather than new. But I broke with that practice last month, after a sudden electrical calamity laid my wife's laptop to rest. Fried and died it is. With Apple releasing new versions of iOS and OS X and launching a streaming music service, a summer sojourn seemed opportune.

I considered going Windows 10, which arrives later this month. But most of my BetaNews colleagues are headed that way, so I set out down the Apple reviews track. Again, I probably wouldn't have done so if not for my wife's computer catastrophe. I lent her my Chromebook Pixel LS and purchased a new MBP. She will never give up the Google laptop, BTW.

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Nine years ago, a NPR interviewer asked me about Google and other U.S. companies censoring search results in China. The question was one of morality -- to which I gave answer she didn't expect. That response, or my recollection of it, is appropriate for rather ridiculous and self-serving statements that Apple CEO Tim Cook reportedly made two days ago.

"We believe that people have a fundamental right to privacy", Cook said, Matthew Panzarino reports for TechCrunch. "The American people demand it, the constitution demands it, morality demands it". Oh? What is moral? The answer I gave NPR in 2006 applies: There is no moral high ground in business. The high ground is quagmire, because all public companies -- Apple surely among them -- share a single, moral objective: Make profits for stockholders. Plain, pure, and simple.

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Mark the date with an alarm. Around May 28, 2015, sellers likely will fill eBay and Craigslist with spanking new Chromebook Pixels, available for bargain prices—if anything less than $999 or $1,299 could be considered a deal. Google's developer conference commences that day, when I expect many attendees will receive and quickly dispatch shiny, new laptops. Big G gave away the pricey Pixel two years ago, and it's good guess will do so again. Smart developers will keep the machines; many will not. Dumb move, but who am I to judge, eh? Pixel rests at the precipice of future computing, for those open-minded enough to welcome it. They are few.

If you are among those who get the Chromebook concept, who thinks about purchasing the laptop, but waffles indecision, watch for short-term selling prices that could meet what your sensibilities and spending budget can tolerate. It's good background for me to finally review the higher-end of the two costliest Chromebook configurations. My primer can help you decide whether or not to bother, either for full price now or for the chance of less later. Why wait? I wouldn't and didn't. I received my Pixel in March, on Friday the 13th, ordered two days earlier from Google. I use no other computer. It's more than my primary PC and could be yours, too.

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It's said that just about anything that's broken can be fixed with one of two things. If something moves when it shouldn't, you need duct tape to hold it in place. If it doesn't move when it should, lubricant is what you need. Apple, it seems, has a different approach. Forget screws and clips; these days Apple tech is just held together with glue.

And we’re not talking about just a bit of glue -- we're talking tons of the stuff. Gallons of adhesive pumped into laptops, tablets and phones, holding everything in place and -- ultimately -- making things incredibly awkward to repair. Anyone would think the company had shares in a chain of abattoirs that shipped off horse carcasses to be boiled down into glue. Take the new MacBook Retina for example which featured recently in an iFixit teardown.

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I typically don't pull together review roundups, but bloggers and journalists with early access to Apple Watch and 12-inch MacBook beat the products senseless. Not even Wall Street Journal gives glowing look at the laptop; the pummeling is among the most brutal. Meanwhile, The Verge repeatedly gut-punches the smartwatch. Two themes rise from the many reviews, even those trying to cover up pooh with perfume: The devices are beautiful, but performance is a lumbering beast.

Welcome to the Tim Cook and Jony Ive era of putting form before function, and to a fault. Apple's CEO and design chief may not be the dynamic duo shareholders hoped for. The first truly new products to emerge under Cook's stewardship receive a collective meh, which should scare any intelligent buyer witless. Because if the past means anything, the carefully chosen coven of early reviewers embrace newfangled Apple things like the Devil clings to sinners. But not this week.

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Two computers of note have been announced or released in recent days -- the 2015 version of the Chromebook Pixel and the redesigned MacBook -- that feature an all-singing, all-dancing USB-C port. It transfers data, it powers, it makes coffee, it doesn't matter which way round you insert it, and it practically guarantees an orgasm (OK... maybe we got a little carried away).

It’s a progression of USB technology, and one that has been well-received, at least in principle. Who could be responsible for this marvellous technology feat of design? Blogger, Markdown inventor, and owner of Daring Fireball, John Gruber seems to be under the impression that it's an Apple invention. But he's wrong.

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Bias in the media is inevitable, and any news gatherer who denies this fact is a liar. Companies seek favor or to influence in countless ways. It's the nature of the beast, which cannot be tamed. So I wonder how Chromebook Pixel embargoes impacted reporting about Apple's newest laptop. If so, Google pulled off one hell of a marketing coup.

The search and information giant provided many tech blogs and news sites with the new Pixel about a week before the laptop launched yesterday and the first reviews posted—that was also days before Apple's well-publicized media event where a new MacBook was rumored. Both computers share something in common: USB Type-C, which is bleeding-edge tech. The connector received much media attention on Monday and Tuesday two ways: Buzz about it being the next great thing, and MacBook having but one port (Pixel has two, and others).

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