MacMynd

If the new Apple 27-inch monitor won't cut it..HP has a new 30-inch beauty.

Jon Arnason — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:14:43 +0000

HP’s ZR30w carries an MSRP of $1,300, and depending on your perspective, that’s either a king’s bounty compared to what lower end 23- and 24-inch monitors run, or a veritable bargain considering you could have spent three or four times as much for the same size display not all that long ago.

Pitted against other 30-inch displays on the market, the ZR30w is one of the least expensive models around. And unlike your other components, it’s probably not going to become obsolete in 6-12 months, so we tend to view the price point as a positive in this case. Barring any manufacturing defects or unfortunate acts of God, a quality monitor can potentially last several years without being any worse for wear.

The ZR30w comes capable of delivering 4.1 million pixels and a staggering 1.07 billion displayable colors, enough to cover up to 100 percent of the sRGB and 99 percent of the Adobe RGB color ranges.

For the whole test on HotHardware, hit link below.

source:HotHardware

Apple releases new $70 Magic Trackpad

Jon Arnason — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 23:08:51 +0000

The Magic Trackpad offers Apple’s patented multi-touch technology through a smooth glass and aluminum design. It enables users to scroll smoothly up and down a page with inertial scrolling, pinch to zoom in and out, rotate an image with fingertips and swipe three fingers to flip through a collection of Web pages or photos.

The Magic Trackpad can be configured to support single button or two button commands and supports tap-to-click as well as a physical click.

source:appleinsider

Apple's 27-inch LED Cinema Display ships in September

Jon Arnason — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:34:31 +0000

The new Cinema Display has 2560 x 1440 resolution and 60% more screen real estate than the current 24-inch LED display and will cost $999. Of course that 24-inch and the 30-inch models have now been pulled and only available stocks remain available.

“With built-in MagSafe charging, iSight camera, speakers, and USB ports, the LED Cinema Display is ideal for MacBook and MacBook Pro users,” said Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, Philip Schiller. “With its massive 2560 x 1440 resolution, the new 27-inch LED Cinema Display is a perfect fit with our powerful new Mac Pro, and it gives iMac users an easy way to double their screen real estate.”

The new, larger 27-inch LED Cinema Display features a 16:9 edge-to-edge glass display on an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display easy. It displays vivid colors and exceptionally high contrast by utilizing a premium display technology called in-plane switching (IPS) to provide a brilliant image across an ultra wide 178 degree viewing angle.

The new LED Cinema Display now also includes a new ambient light sensor which automatically adjusts the display brightness based on external lighting conditions and uses only as much energy as necessary to provide an optimum viewing experience.

source:appleinsider

New Mac Pro comes out next month with a roar.. 12 processing cores.

Jon Arnason — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:24:28 +0000

If you can afford the top of the line, you need to set aside $5k for the right to claim the fastest Mac ever. This monster gives you a 50% boost in processing prowess compared to the previous fastest Mac Pro.

The new Mac Pro desktops feature the latest quad-core and 6-core Intel Xeon processors, all-new ATI graphics and the option for up to four 512GB solid state drives (SSD). The processors run at speeds up to 3.33GHz and use a single die design so they can share up to 12MB L3 cache, improving efficiency while increasing processing speeds.

“The new Mac Pro is the most powerful and configurable Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With up to 12 cores, the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

The systems include an integrated memory controller for faster memory bandwidth and reduced memory latency; Turbo Boost to dynamically boost processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz; and Hyper-Threading to create up to 24 virtual cores. The Mac Pro now comes with the ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor with 1GB of memory and customers can configure-to-order the even faster ATI Radeon HD 5870 with 1GB of memory.

source:appleinsider

Some of the Apple rumors came true. New iMac now and Mac Pro in August.

Jon Arnason — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:10:30 +0000

The new iMac line is the fastest ever with dual-core processor speeds up to 3.6 GHz, quad-core speeds up to 2.93 GHz and discrete graphics including the ATI Radeon HD 5750.

“We took the world’s best all-in-one and made it even better,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the latest processors, high-performance graphics and signature aluminum and glass design, customers are going to love the latest iMac.”

Dual-core Intel Core i3 and Core i5, and quad-core Core i5 and Core i7 bring the best performance yet to the iMac line, Apple said. The processors feature an integrated memory controller to access the system memory directly, allowing the new iMac to take full advantage of its faster 1333 MHz memory.

New discrete ATI Radeon HD processors deliver incredibly smooth, crisp graphics for the most demanding 3D games, creative software and technical applications. iMac displays feature IPS technology to deliver images across a wide 178 degree viewing angle.

The SD card slot on the iMac now supports the SDXC format to handle the latest high-capacity storage cards. Customers of the 27-inch iMac have the option to order a 256GB solid state drive (SSD) as a primary or secondary drive. The iMac SSD supports up to 215 MB/s data transfer rates for faster startup and application launch times.

The rumors of faster firewire and USB 3.0 have not materialized though.

source:appleinsider

Next Mac Pro and iMac rumors surface again. USB 3.0?

Jon Arnason — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 05:21:29 +0000

The French site Hardmac, provided some more fuel to the rumor mill. Apple will update its Mac Pro desktop at the end of this summer, and its all-in-one iMac a few weeks later, adding USB 3.0 and faster FireWire to both.

Apple is expected to adopt Intel’s Gulftown processor, the 32nm Core i7-980X with six cores. Apple usually doubles the processors in its high-end workstations, so it’s possible the new Mac Pro system could have a total of 12 cores and 24 threads.

Seagate 3TB drive is first on the block.

Jon Arnason — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:57:39 +0000

Seagate has announced it’s shipping the industry’s first 3TB hard drive, the FreeAgent GoFlex Desk External Drive. The external only is selling for $250 right now which is only $0.08 per gigabyte, compared to the $0.09 for the current 2TB drive. I need.. wait, I want one.

The GoFlex Desk external drive gives you plenty of storage capacity and it’s easy to upgrade to any interface you choose. Simply pair the desktop hard drive with a GoFlex USB 3.0 or FireWire® 800/USB 2.0 adapter to increase your performance by up to 10 times. Works interchangeably between a PC or a Mac® computer.

Features USB 2.0 plug-and-play connectivity
Ensures automatic continuous backup and protects your privacy with powerful encryption software
Lets you upgrade to a faster interface to increase your transfer speeds when paired with another GoFlex Desk desktop adapter
Includes an illuminated capacity gauge

Firewire 800/USB 2.0 GoFlex Adapter

Is your iPhone 4 burning your misplaced hands?

Jon Arnason — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:03:46 +0000

According to the French site “Le Macbidouille” or Hardmac.com, they certainly pushed it to it’s limits with 20 minutes of shooting video.

The message “Your iPhone needs to cool before it can be used again” came up after the brutal video shoot.

The iPhone like the iPad, has thermal protection circuitry that stops it from overheating the processor. They needed to restart it even after sitting on a table for at least an hour at room temperature.

World Cup 2010 - iOS 4.0 killed my iPod on 3Gs

Jon Arnason — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:32:09 +0000

I'm watching Spain vs. Chile right now. Excellent tournament so far as long as you aren't French. Hope the US beats Ghana tomorrow too.
Oh, I updated my iPhone 3Gs to iOS 4.0 and now my iPod app dies after launching.. bummer. Everything else works fine though.

Apple releases iOS 4 for iPhone

Jon Arnason — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:29:06 +0000

The latest OS upgrade for the iPhone has been released and packed with over 100 new features. The update available now through iTunes is about 570MB.

Here are the features of iOS 4 as listed by Apple:

Multitasking: Now you can run your favorite third-party apps and switch between them instantly without slowing down the performance of the foreground app or draining the battery unnecessarily.
Folders: Organize apps into folders with drag-and-drop simplicity. Get faster access to your favorites and browse and manage up to 2160 apps.
Even better Mail: See messages from all your accounts in a unified inbox, organize messages by threads, open attachments in third-party apps, and more.
iBooks: More than a great ebook reader, iBooks is also an amazing place to browse and shop for books, day or night.
Create playlists: Create custom playlists right on your iPhone.
5x digital zoom: Get closer to your subjects by zooming in up to 5x.
Tap to focus video: While shooting video, tap the display to choose where to focus.
Faces and Places in Photos: View photos based on who’s in them and where they were taken.
Home screen wallpaper: Change the background wallpaper on your Home screen.
Gift apps: Send apps as gifts to your friends or family.
Spell checking: A built-in spell checker works in Mail, Notes, and other apps.
Wireless keyboard support: Pair a keyboard based on Bluetooth wireless technology with your iPhone.