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Have you been thinking about buying a new Mac? Have the sleek new iMacs won you over? Maybe you're thinking about one of the MacBooks? Well, this was brought up yesterday by our very own Tom Krazit at CNET News.com, but I think it's worth mentioning here: don't pull the trigger on that purchase just yet!

According to Mac rumor sites, Apple will announce the release of Mac OS X Leopard on October 26. There's no confirmation from Apple--there never is--but with last week's news of a mostly complete release candidate for Leopard, it'… Read more

AppleInsider has reported that more than a few owners of the new shiny iMacs are experiencing freezing problems.

When the problem occurs, the system will look and behave as if it's running but is totally unresponsive to any touching of the controls, according to the report. Some suspect foul play by the new ATI Radeon HD graphics card, as most instances occur when playing games or running any video-intensive tasks.

So far Apple is aware of the problem but has yet to release a permanent fix for it. Desperate users have tried to re-install older Mac drivers with mixed … Read more

We approach all Apple-related rumors with skepticism, but sometimes we get a certain feeling about them, and today's from Mac OS Rumors gives us that tingle of plausibility. Word from one of that site's "oldest and most reliable sources in Cupertino" is that the Mac Mini is going to be replaced before the end of the year by what they refer to as the "Mac Nano."

"Overall volume will be shrunk almost 25 percent, weight by about 20 percent, and an all-new enclosure will be strikingly different from the design that has been … Read more

MacWorld is reporting that Apple now has 17.6% of the laptop market, with an overall market share of 5.9% and a solid third place in overall computer sales.

That's 2.2% over the same period in 2006. Money and market share does appear to grow on trees. Apple trees. (Bad pun...I know.)

No wonder Mr. Mac is happy.

In a recent interview with a gaming news site called Kikizo, Valve Software co-founder Gabe Newell explained that he thinks Apple "has never taken gaming seriously" and the company "can't even follow through [sic] on any of their commitments [to] game developers"

It is this, Newell explains, that has created an environment in the gaming industry where Macs are a non-existent platform. And while I agree with Newell that Macs have very little gaming presence, is there a reason that Apple should have a presence? It seems to me that high-end gaming is best kept on Windows where players can either purchase incredibly powerful machinery or build their own rigs. That's simply impossible on a Mac.… Read more

Apple said the next Mac OS X version would arrive in October, and two reports out Thursday say the company's going to use as many days of this month as it can before letting Leopard loose.

Both AppleInsider and ThinkSecret reported Thursday that Leopard is tracking for a October 26th release, which would be the last Friday of the month and, if my baseball luck continues to hold, will probably be Game 7 of the World Series. In April, Apple delayed the release of Leopard from June to October, citing the need to get the iPhone out on time.… Read more

It's been a busy week in digital music, to say the least. Today Zune 2 was announced, and Amazon finally launched its MP3 download service, though it's currently still in Beta.

I gave it a short try and found that overall it is a competent start. It's not a significant step beyond iTunes in terms of functionality or usability (more on that in a moment), though it's price/quality ratio is very good: 89-99 cents for 256kbps bit rate, DRM-free MP3s. Albums vary a lot in price, from a bit over $4 to $8.99 so … Read more

After having a day to reflect on Microsoft's latest Zune offering, I began to think that perhaps the iPod vs. Zune battle is a little too obvious. Whether the iPod's position at the top of the MP3 player food chain is deserved or not, history has shown us that it will likely stay there. The real question is, "As the holidays approach, which MP3 player will come in second place?"

When it comes to interface and killer features, the challenger that Microsoft should really keep an eye on is the yet-to-be-released Samsung YP-P2 I reported on back in August. Although Samsung hasn't released pricing information yet, things could really heat up if the YP-P2 can get close to the $149 and $199 price points of the iPod Nano and Flash-based Zunes. Not only does the YP-P2 offer a 3-inch touch screen and built in Bluetooth, but it also has the advantage of not being Microsoft. Honestly, after Apple's successful "I'm a Mac" smear campaign, it's tough to convince people that Microsoft makes cool gear (unless you've got Halo 3 as bait).

We've been able to dig up two videos on YouTube that demonstrate the interface for both the Zune and Samsung YP-P2.… Read more