mac

The Mac slides, but not as badly as the PC market

Somehow, CIO.com's Shane O'Neill divines that Apple's customers are dumping it in droves now that the global recession has kicked in. His evidence? A 6-percent retail sales drop in January compared to January 2008, according to NPD Group:

Apple, welcome to Earth in 2009, where premium pricing doesn't cut it anymore...We live in a time where cheap is trumping cool, and probably will until this economy turns around. That's bad news for Apple, which has no Netbook (that we know of).

This is a bold statement to make on one month's worth … Read more

Ludicrously priced laptops: Apple, HP, Sony

Some laptops, especially ultraportables, brazenly push the envelope on pricing. In the age of the ultra-cheap Netbook, are they really worth the $2,000 to $3,000 price tag? I've listed three egregious offenders and two that fall into the less-scandalous-but-still-snooty pricing category.

Let's start with the Hewlett-Packard Voodoo Envy 133, probably the most brazenly overpriced of the batch because it will still set you back as much as $2,700 despite the fact that it hasn't been updated in almost eight months and, accordingly, comes with obsolete hardware.

The 13-inch ultra-slim Voodoo Envy 133 model NV4050NA … Read more

Purported Mac Mini video surfaces

Either Apple's about to launch a Mac Mini, or somebody is really determined to get into the Apple Rumor/Hoax Hall of Fame.

A day after a photo surfaced supposedly showing Apple's design for a next-generation Mac Mini--which was then debunked through some crazy spectral analysis or something--a video has surfaced in the forums of MacRumors claiming to depict a new Mac Mini. The computer shown in the video has the same five USB ports and MiniDisplay port that graced the Mac Mini shown in the photo.

An immediate discussion regarding the video's authenticity flared … Read more

Only 7 percent of active Firefox browsers running on Macs?

In the midst of counting the total number of Linux users in the world, Mozilla's Asa Dotzler reveals a startling statistic:

The Mac only accounts for roughly 7 percent of active Firefox browser installations.

Sure, Windows has massive market share, but I would have thought more Mac users would be running Firefox than their Windows peers. Meaning, I had assumed that whereas Windows users would be content to let inertia guide them to Internet Explorer (IE), a greater proportion of Mac owners would make the choice for Firefox, instead of Safari that comes preinstalled on the Mac, netting the … Read more

Return of the $999 MacBook Air

Oh, MacBook Air. So thin, so sexy, so crazy-expensive. Or not, if you're willing to go the refurbished route. Now reappearing at Apple's online store: the refurbished MacBook Air for $999 shipped (plus sales tax in some states).

This model sports a 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, an 80GB hard drive, and all the other standard Air goodies: 802.11n, a built-in Webcam, a 13.3-inch display, and so on. Read CNET's review for all the details.

The Air doesn't include an optical drive, which has been one of the big … Read more

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What's that snow leopard doing on Microsoft's Live Search?

Those of us with too much bandwidth and too little life (yours truly included) are wondering just why Microsoft chose to make a snow leopard the backdrop photo on Live Search on Thursday.

Even though Microsoft puts a new picture on the site each day, surely it hasn't exhausted all the images that are not references to competitor's products.

As TechFlash points out, the fact that Microsoft has the mascot for Apple's next operating system could be cluelessness on Microsoft's point. Or it could be hubris.

But another crazy thought crossed my mind. What if Microsoft … Read more

Alleged spy photos reveal USB-laden Mac Mini

In the department of who-knows-if-this-is-real-or-not, we bring you some alleged "spy" shots of the back of the next-generation Mac Mini that are making their way around the blog circuit.

Everybody seems impressed that the thing has a whopping five USB ports. There are also connections for Ethernet, FireWire 800, and what appears to be two display ports--one Mini DisplayPort and one older mini DVI Mac display port. Why there's no HDMI connection is beyond us, but then again, this may--or may not--be the real deal, so we won't get too worked up.

Of course, there's … Read more

I'll wait for Windows 7 before buying a new PC

I need a new computer. Badly. My old iMac, which I'm using to write this now, has seen better days. My Windows machines, strewn across the house, are old and tired. But I'm unwilling to buy a new computer today. It's not that I haven't seen machines that I really would like to have, or that I don't have a desire to build my own. But there's a single factor that's forcing me to wait: Windows 7.

I'm done with buying Macs for a while. I really do love my iMac and my MacBook is my trusty companion when I travel, but after using Windows 7, I now know that I'm ready to jump back into the world of Windows. In my testing, Windows 7 isn't just an outstanding operating system that provides an ideal experience, but it's also a great alternative to Mac OS X. I find it superior to Apple's software on almost every level. It's that good.

But there's more to this story than Windows 7's superiority. I want to wait for Windows 7 for a number of reasons.… Read more