Have Laptop Will Travel

MacBooks, MacBook Pros suffer performance hit without batteries

Originally posted on November 25, 2008 @ 12:13 am

Some people have a habit of removing the battery from the laptops when they’re using it in the hopes that it will result in more extended life for the battery.

But it looks like this practice is not a good one if you’re a MacBook or MacBook Pro owner. Benchmarking tests revealed that a huge performance hit happens when you use these Apple laptops without the battery. This is apparently indicated in the Apple website, which states that this happens as a way of preventing the laptops from shutting down if for some reason the units try to get more power that the A/C adapters alone can provide.

So the lesson is clear, leave the battery intact when you have a MacBook or MacBook Pro. Jury’s still out though on what happens if you already have a dead Apple battery.

Apple releases revamped MacBook Pro

Originally posted on January 23, 2009 @ 11:43 pm

All this attention to Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ health and his decision to step down temporarily from his position at Apple has actually left me forgetting about the new offerings from the company — namely, the revamped Macbook Pro.

The new version of the 17-inch Macbook Pro is both underwhelming and just right. The fact that it was underwhelming was because of rumors that it will get the aluminum brick chassis, glass trackpad and Intel CPU.

But as revamps go, it was still (a little bit) okay. The biggest news is the now non-removable battery. Apple said that a removable battery left a lot of “wasted space”. By making it non removable it gave it more space to put in a higher capacity battery. The company claims the new battery can work up to 7 to 8 hours in a single charge. It also has a new LCD screen and with option to get a glare or non-glare screen.

The new Macbook Pro will retail at $2,799.

Apple releases new updates to address vulnerabilities

Originally posted on December 17, 2008 @ 11:21 pm

Mac users turn on your updates if you haven’t yet.

Apple released last Monday a security update for both the Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5, client and server. The new update will bring the versions of the OS to 10.4.11 and 10.5.5.

The update was developed to fix 21 vulnerabilities of the OS. About seven of the vulnerabilities have been linked to the Adobe Flash plug-in.

The updat will affect a number of system components and are deemed critical. One example of this would be a bug in CoreGraphics that has been described as “viewing a maliciously crafted image may lead to an unexpected application termination or arbitrary code execution”.

Even though the bugs that were identified are not at the level where remote users can gain access to your system even without any user interaction, it is still best to update your Macs immediately.

Via introduces “Surfboard” for netbooks

Originally posted on March 19, 2009 @ 11:58 pm

Via Technologies recently released its new Surfboard design, this is a reference design for low cost netbooks. Via’s design will run directly against Nvidia’s own Ion platform.

The Surfboard, though containing an older C7-M ULV microprocessor, is also built around the VX855 unified chipset that Via also introduced last week. The VX855 has capabilities to play 1080p videos while only consuming less than 40 percent of the CPU. This HD playback capability is also one of the features of Nvidia’s Ion. Surfboard is planned to be used for netbooks with displays between 10 to 12 inches. Surfboard will also have support for Bluetooth, GPS, WiFi and 3G.

Jobs’ health discussed in Bloomberg

Originally posted on January 20, 2009 @ 9:58 pm

Steve Jobs is creating a lot of stir in the industry because of questions regarding his health. Recently, Jobs stepped down from his position as CEO of Apple, citing a hormone imbalance that he wanted to correct. But according to Bloomberg News, Jobs is very sick and that he currently looking into undergoing a liver transplant as a way of helping with complications that have been brought on by his past bout with pancreatic cancer.

Apple COO Tim Cook has taken over Jobs until his return in June.

What is further fueling speculations is Jobs’ continued refusal not to speak to the press regarding his health.

I do hope that Jobs gets well soon.