mac. macbook

For laptops or any portable device, perhaps obviously one of the more important features is battery life, and how to get the most time out of the device without needing to plug it in.

Apple ships its laptops with an advertised 5 to 7 hours of battery life, but depending on how you use your system you may find the battery life to be well below that. For instance, my 2009 MacBook Pro gets about 5 to 6 hours of battery life instead of the advertised 7 to 8 hours. This is remarkable battery performance given the battery's age … Read more

Dell is going to go after Apple's MacBook Air again, part of its broader strategy to take on the entire MacBook line.

The new ultraslim laptop could come around the CES time frame, according to industry sources familiar with Dell's plans.

There was also a separate report this week that said Dell is prepping an Ultrabook--the Windows camp answer to the MacBook Air. Whether the rumored Ultrabook is the same laptop that Dell sources are referring to is unclear.

Whatever the case, it is all part of a broader Dell push to take on the MacBook line. This week, the Round Rock, Texas-based company announced the XPS 14z, aimed squarely at the 13-inch MacBook Pro. (Dell claims its bezel-less display design makes it close to a 13-inch MacBook Pro in size.) And, in May, Dell brought out the XPS 15z that targets the 15-inch MacBook Pro. … Read more

On Monday, Apple released an EFI firmware update for MacBook Air systems that in addition to fixing performance issues with Target Disk mode, implemented compatibility for the upcoming Thunderbolt displays that Apple is developing. Following this update, Apple today released two more updates for the Mac Mini and MacBook Pro systems which address the same problems and compatibility issues as the MacBook Air update.

In addition to addressing Thunderbolt-related issues, the updates address issues with OS X Lion's "Internet Recovery" feature on the Mac Mini, and enables it on the MacBook Pro which previously did not have … Read more

Apple's MacBook Pro series could be the next in line for a hardware upgrade, according to a new report.

Citing anonymous sources "with proven insight into Apple's future product plans," AppleInsider says the Mac maker plans to introduce new models of its Pro portables with speedier Intel processors. The new models are said to ship in time for the holiday shopping season, though could arrive this month, the outlet says.

How big a bump are we talking about? AppleInsider points to Intel's latest crop of quad-core Core i7 chips, which come in at 2.4GHz, … Read more

Intel will put its large spotlight on Ultrabook laptops and Windows 8, among other technologies, at its annual developer conference next week.

In a keynote on September 14, Mooly Eden, general manager of the PC client group at Intel, will describe the "transformation of the PC" being driven by Ultrabooks at the Intel Developer Forum (IDF), according to an overview of the forum CNET received from Intel today. IDF begins next Tuesday.

Ultrabooks are very light, very thin Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air. The core hardware includes Intel second-generation "Sandy Bridge" processors and … Read more

The only way the new Ultrabook laptop category can top the MacBook Air is to get cheap fast. But that won't necessarily be easy, according to an IDC analyst.

Ultrabooks--for the uninitiated--are very light, very thin Windows laptops that compete with the MacBook Air. The core hardware includes Intel second-generation "Sandy Bridge" processors and solid-state drives. One of the best examples is the 13-inch Toshiba Portege Z830.

The Z830 has a magnesium alloy case, weighs about 2.5 pounds, and is 0.63 inches thick. Toshiba claims it will sell for less than $1,000.

By comparison, … Read more

When OS X Lion was released, a number of users who installed the operating system on a MacBook Pro began experiencing a black-screen bug when waking the computer from sleep or when performing some graphics manipulation tasks. When this issue initially appeared, it was suspected the problem was in the handling of the systems' graphics processors by Lion, but more recent reports suggest the problem may be a hardware fault in the affected systems.

Many of those who have experienced this problem have reverted back to OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and have seen the problem go away, suggesting … Read more

What's an Ultrabook? According to Intel, it's a superthin MacBook Air-like laptop with great battery life and a solid-state drive, which is less than .8 inch thick. Most people couldn't tell you that, though. It's not surprising then, perhaps, that Intel Capital has created a $300 million Ultrabook Fund to drive continuing growth in the category. It is, however, significant news.

According to the press release sent today, Intel's Ultrabook Fund will "invest in companies building hardware and software technologies focused on enhancing how people interact with Ultrabooks such as through sensors and touch, … Read more

If you're looking for a storage device that only a few deserving computers can handle, Promise Technology's Thunderbolt-enabled Pegasus R6 external hard drive is for you. It's a storage device like no other.

And it was hard to review it. For one thing, as it's the first storage device with Thunderbolt, we needed to think of a new set of tests for it while still comparing it with existing storage devices in a way that makes sense. However, the hardest part was not the logistics but how to rate the drive.

As Thunderbolt currently offers 10Gbps … Read more