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After digesting the iPad news from a day, I finally came to organize my ideas and post this small article about the device. At first I was a bit disappointed because of the similarities with the iPhone-iPod touch, my main concern is that a device like this would be better if it was marketed as a computer replacement or companion as opposed to marketed as a media device.

I really think that is an awesome media device, the ability of managing your media and your communication from a device like this one blows my mind. The addition of iWork for the iPad is just a killer move on Apple’s part, and because is open to developers to create incredible applications, this makes of the iPad the best media-communicator device in the world. Read the rest of this entry →

I’ve been fixing computers for some time now, as part of the tools of the trade I have many cables and tools that helps me with the day-to-day task of fixing computers, drives, and other technology. One of the tools that have helped me a lot is a USB 2.0 to IDE & SATA cable from Cables Unlimited that I got at CompUSA, but you can get it pretty much anywhere you can buy computer parts.

This useful tool allows you to plug a hard drive to a computer without having to open it and installing it inside, better for people like me that I only have an Apple MacBook. To add to its simplicity, I can use it even if I’m on Windows XP using VMWare on my MacBook. Read the rest of this entry →

On an article published on November 2007 I talked about my favorite mouse, long time has passed and I have changedmouse several times. I finally found one that I like, the Microsoft Bluetooth Notebook Mouse 5000, and I’m loving this little mice, I picked this one up from OfficeDepot for $30 while on sale about a month ago.

This mouse is lightweight, comes with a pouch for carrying it while on the go, and it doesn’t use as much batteries as other wireless options. The downside is that to make all the buttons work I had to buy a little software called USB Overdrive. Before I dive into details, let me say that this is not my first Microsoft mice and both of them were excellent, this is my second must have from Microsoft, when I get a new MacBook I always install MS Office then get a MS wireless mouse. Read the rest of this entry →

Apple had their so long awaited WWDC Keynote on June 8, 2009 where they released new notebooks, a phone, and some software updates. There is so much to be excited but the one thing that makes me go crazy is the new line of notebooks, essentially, Apple transform their lower line of notebooks into professional tools at affordable prices.

I have to talk about this because there is no better time to own an Apple notebook, these new notebooks outperform anything I have seen in the market today and will give you years of joy, but there is more if you buy one of these notebooks today (June 23, 2009) you are eligible to get Snow Leopard, the next update to Mac OS X, for only $9.95 USD via their uptodate program. Everything looks like good news at Cupertino, CA as WWDC ends and leaves everyone with a great taste in their mouth of how the future is shaping to be a great one for Mac users. Read the rest of this entry →

I downloaded Windows 7 RC right when it was released, I installed it in a virtual machine using VMware Fusion and been testing some of it features. The first thing I notice about this version of Windows is that the installation time was down considerably, it took about 20 to 25 minutes to install.

The second thing I noticed was that the system seems to manage memory better than its previous release. The load in my MacBook seem to be lighter and therefore the machine ran smoother, compared to the previous version which made my computer fans spin for minutes after it started up. Read the rest of this entry →

World of Warcraft (WoW) is a game that has been out for a while, many people are hooked and I can’t blame them the game is very addictive. I downloaded WoW about six days ago, they have a 10-day trial and since I’ve never play the game before plus I had a little free time thanks to the holidays, I decided to give it a try.

The download was a total of over 7GB (on my MacBook) after installing several gigs, then it requested it’s updates and so on. I created my trail account, then my character, it was great, the only reason I don’t include pictures is to prevent any copyright issues.

I started playing the game and like anything you do for the first time, I was totally lost. The good thing is that the game itself explain you what to do, where to rest, whom to fight, it gives you missions and this weird feeling that you are not alone even when you are alone.[amazonify]B000VJTJNE[/amazonify]

After a couple of hours I have died a couple of times, I couldn’t killed something that looked like an owl or some weird bird. I had a hard time figuring out how to get back to my body when I died the first time and some places where just odd to me. My overall experience was great, I loved the game, and it was the best game of this type that I’ve ever played.

You should be asking yourself by now why I’m talking like I didn’t kept it. You are right, I didn’t. First, I’m not the kind of person that has lot’s of time to commit to games, this kind of game looks like it requires a lot of learning and lot of dedication to achieve anything.

Then there’s this thing about playing in my computer that makes me want to do other things while I’m playing (my wife calls it ADD), but realistically talking, I felt like I was working even when I wasn’t. I’m the kind of gamer that I either need a very simple game on my iPhone or a game console to disconnect from my computer.

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It’s been a long time since I posted anything on my blog, I moved (geographically) and switching services was a real adventure. Now that I’m finally back (online), let’s see what’s on my feed reader. Apple has an upcoming event for October 14, 2008 that got me very excited. For once, I’ve been looking to buy a “netbook”, both for convenience and price, but if Apple can come up with an $800 MacBook, my search is over.

I will release my research on the best “netbooks” on the market on a later date, the announcement of a MacBook event will have an effect on the article a bit. Even before this announcement, Apple related sites have been posting several rumors about the new design, price, and case elements of the rumored new notebooks that are very interesting for saying the least.

The rumor that got me excited the most is the price drops, if they become a reality that means that Apple will have a notebook for about $800 US dollars, making it the most affordable Apple notebook ever. I was willing to pay up to $500 for a “netbook” but if I can add $300 more for an Apple hardware, that changes everything.

The rumors about the case changes make me a bit nervous, we all know that the release of the current generation MacBooks didn’t go without hiccups. We had everything from cracked cases to discoloration problems, plus the heating issues made prominent that first generation Apple products are to be taken cautiously.

None of those initial headaches were permanent, Apple work hard to try to make everyone happy by replacing their product and upgrading the notebooks firmware to make it more “temperature friendly”. If I end up buying a next gen-new case MacBook, I will definitely get Apple Care with it.

More on the rumors is that the lineup will include a new product, some people are speculating that these could be either Apple “netbooks” or tablets. Hopefully is not a new supersized notebook, nor a strip down MacBook Air (then we would have to name it MacBook Nothing.)

One thing to keep an eye on is the current generation MacBooks, the refurbish section of the Apple Store have some priced at $849 (as of this afternoon, Oct 11, 2008). If the new, rumored, aggressive pricing really takes place, these current generation MacBooks could go as low as $799.

To conclude, I wouldn’t be buying an Apple notebook this weekend, I will write a small article in the afternoon of the 14th with the reaction of the many geeks that will be either happy or mad at the announcement, we always have both groups of people anyway, right? Until then, don’t forget you can follow me on twitter or add me as a friend on Facebook.

Interesting enough, Apple has release their third update for the third week in a row to their Hardware/Software line of products. This time they updated the MacBooks and MacBook Pros, since I’m so close to buy a MacBook and I’m so excited about it I will focus my attention on it.

The MacBook lineup remains in the same price point but with more power and less accessories than before. That’s right, less accessories, for some reason Apple eliminated the inclusion of the Apple Remote in the newly refreshed MacBooks and MacBook Pros. I don’t think they did this just to be cheap, but maybe they analyze the people amount of people who actually will use a product like this.

Personally, I’ve used my remote like 10 times since last November, whenever I’m just filing stuff in my small office at home or cleaning the office, I put some music or listen to a podcast using Front Row. I don’t think people purchasing the MacBook will miss much the missing remote, after all you can get one for just $19.

The new MacBook sports a new Core2Duo chip, the Penrym is based on the new 45nm micro architecture that Intel plans to move all their processor lineup from now on. The new processors have 3MB of L2 cache and a new vector engine, you can choose on a 2.1GHz on the base model or 2.4GHz on the following two options.

I’m very interested in the $1,299.00 MacBook which sports the 2.4GHz processor with 2GB or RAM standard, a 160GB hard drive, and Double Layer SuperDrive. This baby weights only 5 pounds, which makes it very confortable to carry around, and enough ports (unlike the MacBook Air) to connect anything just about anywhere.

One more thing this new MacBooks are missing is some of the extra software they used to include before, like the free Quicken, some games etc. All in all, this new MacBooks are smoking great, I’m waiting to make sure people are not having major issues with these new processor to get mine. I notice that the battery specifications show less uptime than the previous lineup, I’m thinking is because the more powerful processors and the fact that new they have to manage more memory.

What do you think? Are getting a MacBook anytime soon? I would like to hear from anyone that gets the new MacBook to see if there’s any heat issues or if they remains the same.

A week before Macworld, Apple released hardware updates for their Mac Pro and Xserve products, while I wont be covering the Xserve updates I have to say that they look strong. In the other hand the Mac Pro is the best machine I’ve ever seen and the fastest Mac ever -Apple said.

I’m very impressed with the technology behind this machine and definitely understand why Apple went with Intel for processing power. Not even AMD is getting close to the specs these new Intel Xeon chips have, up to 3.2 GHz Quad Core processors capable of managing 32GB of Memory, these specs are hard to match.

After reading the specs in detail and reading what the industry and bloggers are saying around the web, it looks like the Mac Pro still lacks some features people were expecting to see. The first one, a Blu-ray player option, Apple is a supporter of the Blu-ray format yet no one has seen anything Apple related with support for any HD format.

Apple 23 inch and 30 inch displays are advertise as HD capable and that’s it, no word on whether drives will be an addition on future dates and this drives people crazy (me on the one hand.) I personally think that they are long due to these offering and I can’t simply understand what the delay is.

Did anyone notice that Bluetooth is not an option anymore? WiFi is! This is very weird, the previous model had an optional WiFi-Bluetooth ad on for $99 USD, the new models have integrated Bluetooth and an optional WiFi Extreme card for $49 USD.

One thing I don’t understand, if you can stick up to 4TB why would anyone need a raid card that cost $800 USD to manage a raid on your Mac Pro. Is this true for all flavors of raid (0, 1, 5, and 10) I guess I’m missing something here, my experience with raid arrays is not enough to understand this.

With this new release, Apple included Memory running at 800MHz, which is nice to know that Apple is finally implementing this speed on their memory line. Almost all current processors have a system bus of 800MHz, maybe by Macworld 2008 we have iMacs, MacBook and MacBook Pro running same type of memory.

The addition of the NVIDIA 8800 GT makes this Mac the best choice for many people, let’s not forget that there is another optional graphics card, the NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of GDDR3 memory, which is killer. If you are thinking on gaming, me too.

Finally, reading Apple’s website I notice something interesting, Apple advertise the Mac Pro as a 1600MHz dual independent frontside bus couple with the 64bit architecture capable of a processing power bandwidth of 25.6GB a second. At this rate, you can manage lots of application and files at the same time on one of these systems, making you the most productive guy/gal on earth.

I found the coolest website with skins for you iPhone, GelaSkins don’t only sell stickers for your iPhone but for you iPod and your MacBook. What attract me the most is that they have several artists selling their work, this makes the skins to be as unique as Mac users are. To check out what I’m talking about by yourself just click on the affiliate link below.

What I like the most about GelaSkins products is that they are easy to apply, durable and easy to remove too. If you wish to change your iPhone skin after awhile you can easily peel off the current skin and apply another with out leaving traces of glue or damaging your iPhone. The same apply to other products like the MacBook, iPod or even your Motorola RAZR.

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