MacbookPro posts

Update: Commenters point out that our tipster pulled the Best Buy inventory screen image from this thread on the MacRumors forums (he did provide independent confirmation of the SKU deletion). I was not aware of the forum thread at the time the post was written, and there was at the time no corresponding post on the main MacRumors site (although there is now). My apologies to the forum poster for the lack of credit for the image; I should have double-verified where it came from before running it.

In the world of retail computer sales, nothing is quite so deterministic as the disappearance of model SKUs (stock keeping units, store jargon for "the numbers that correspond to the widgets we sell, and how we track our inventory and sales") from a chain's price list or database system. When that happens, no additional orders can be placed for the deleted item(s), and it's a pretty safe bet that something new is right around the corner.

Dovetailing nicely with the rumor I noted early Saturday morning regarding benchmark results showing up for a mystery MacBook Pro, we now have a tip that existing MacBook Pro SKUs have been deleted from Best Buy's sales system. The picture above (which was posted in the MacRumors forums) shows the screen display for the 13" model, no longer orderable. It's now dramatically more likely that we'll see new MacBook Pro models in the immediate future -- possibly as early as this Tuesday, just in time for Apple to show them off on the Macworld Expo show fl--

Oh. Right. Drat.

Thanks Jose

A quick couple of tips from readers Ken and Jack, and this thread over at the MacRumors forums, point us towards an interesting results page at the Geekbench site (Google cached version, in case they get hammered), which aggregates benchmark results from thousands of users all over the globe. This particular page reports the performance of a previously unreleased MacBook Pro model (MacBookPro6,1) which claims an Intel Core i7 M 620 processor running the show.

Real? Maybe, although at this point it's a bit suspicious that it's not running a dev build of 10.6.3 instead of an internal build of 10.6.2 as reported on the page; also, Geekbench results are frequently spoofed by hackintoshes (unless Apple built an AMD-based MacBook Pro and simply neglected to tell us about it). Fast? Heck yes; the benchmark score of 5260 handily blows by the speed of currently shipping machines.

The eventual appearance of the 6,1 version of the MBP has been a bit of a foregone conclusion since October of last year, when developer builds of OS X 10.6.2 were found to include support files specific to those model IDs. A laptop refresh in Q1 would be a very nice thing, but in this case I wouldn't get the checkbook sharpened quite yet.

Thanks to Ken and Jack for sending this one in.

Earlier this week, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave the keynote address to the Nashville Technology Council, which was held at Trevecca Nazarene University (TNU) in Nashville, TN. Steve, who is on a multi-city tour to promote Microsoft, joined other prominent technology professionals like Abbie Lundberg, editor-in-chief of CIO Magazine.

After the speeches were done, Steve did a meet-and-greet with TNU Students to answer brief questions, sign autographs and so on. One student asked for Steve's autograph -- on a MacBook Pro.

To his credit, Steve handled the awkward moment well (as another student's camera rolled), writing "Need a new one? Steve Ballmer" smack-dab over the laptop's logo. Kudos to Steve for his cool-headed response (we can't imagine what Steve Jobs would do if asked to sign a Dell) and for that student with the nerve to pull such a stunt.

You can see close ups of the signature here.

[Via MacDailyNews]

Curse you, TwelveSouth! You keep coming up with ways to make me spend my hard-earned money.

This time, it's a wonderfully unique sleeve for the MacBook line, the BookBook. This US$79.99 sleeve looks like an antique leather-bound book, but it wraps around your Apple-made pride and joy to give it a level of class it hasn't had since it first shipped from the factory in China.

The attention to detail is, as usual for TwelveSouth, incredible. Not only does it have the distressed leather appearance of an old book, but the leather zipper pulls look like bookmarks. The BookBook comes in red (seen above) and black, and in both 13" and 15" sizes.

It's practical as well as beautiful. The rigid spine provides crush protection to the MacBook, the hardback covers protect the exterior of your laptop, and the unique look provides a level of stealth that could keep your MacBook from being stolen. After all, who wants to pick up something that looks like an old book that you picked up at a library sale?

TwelveSouth is going to be sending one of these beauties along for a full review and giveaway, so keep your eyes open for a future post where you can win a BookBook from TUAW.

It's no secret that I am an unabashed fanboy of Mac accessory design firm Twelve South. Their BackPack for the iMac and Apple Cinema Display is sleek and utilitarian, and the BookArc is a stylish way to stash that MacBook Pro when you want to use it with the cover closed. So it was with a great deal of interest that I read about another of the company's accessories, the BassJump portable subwoofer for MacBook.

The idea behind the US$79.99 BassJump is simple -- the built-in speakers on the current MacBooks do a poor job of replicating the low-end of the sound spectrum, so why not add a USB-powered subwoofer to the mix to make the MacBook sound better?

The BassJump portable subwoofer kind of reminds me of a shrunken Mac mini. Five inches on a side and a tiny bit over two inches tall, the speaker has a rubberized base to avoid sympathetic vibrations that could ruin sound quality. There's no power supply -- as noted earlier, this is a USB-powered accessory.

You're not going to be able to use the BassJump as a replacement for a high-end audio system. The existing speakers in the MacBook line do an "OK" job of replicating the higher frequencies and the BassJump can fill in on the lower frequencies, but the combo still doesn't beat a dedicated audio system. But if you have a need to pump good-quality sound out of a MacBook for a presentation, or just don't want to be tied to a set of earbuds or headphones when listening to your iTunes library, the BassJump is a great solution.

Spanish website faq-mac.com had an interesting tidbit this morning. As seen in the screenshot from the site, an Intel Retail Edge program email showed a giveaway for a MacBook Pro. While that's not unusual -- a MacBook Pro makes a great prize for any contest -- the email showed that the MacBook Pros in question were equipped with Intel Core i5 processors. Existing MacBook Pro models use Intel's Core 2 Duo processors.

A loose translation of the pertinent section of the email shown above says:

January prize draw: Win a MacBook Pro

Increase sales this month and have two opportunities to win a MacBook Pro equipped with the accelerated response offered by the Intel Core i5 processor.

A MacBook Pro with a Core i5 processor would have substantially better performance than the Core 2 Duo-based model, while not reducing battery life. While no date has been announced by Apple for the release of a new MacBook Pro, there's a possibility that such a device could be announced at the rumored January 27th media event.

[via The Mac Observer]

While researching MacBook Pros, the folks at cmyplay produced an infographic charting the relative prices of MacBook Pros around the world. The variation is amazing.

The lowest cost was found in the US ... mostly. Certain models cost less in Hong Kong, but as the author notes, that could be due to exchange rate fluctuations. Prices were significantly higher in South Africa. For example, an entry-level 13" MacBook Pro 2.26GHz in South Africa retails for about the same prices as a mid-level 15" MacBook Pro (2.53GHz) in the US. Note that Apple does not have official representation in South Africa.

However, the highest prices were found in Brazil (where Apple does have official representation). As cmyplay notes, "For the amount to purchase a top-of-the-line MacBook Pro 2.8GHz in Brazil, a person could buy two of the same machine in the US." One Brazilian commenter noted that Brazil's import duties and sales tax, especially on electronics, is very high.

Good work, cmyplay! Your graphic is beautiful and offers a perspective we might not otherwise have considered. Make sure you visit the post to see the full image.

[Via Gizmodo]

It's no secret that TUAW bloggers love Pastebot, the new and tasty iPhone / iPod app from Tapbots. Dave Caolo even referred to Pastebot as "his mistress," and I find that I'm using it constantly to move text and images between my Macs and iPhone.

Well, Tapbots wants you to join in on the goodness, so we're going to have a quick giveaway here at TUAW. We have 15 Pastebot promo codes to hand out, and you can enter the giveaway! Here's the scoop:

• Open to legal US residents of the 50 United States and the District of Columbia who are 18 and older.
• To enter leave a comment telling us how Pastebot will help you keep a New Year's resolution.
• The comment must be left before Saturday, January 2, 2009, 11:59PM Eastern Standard Time.
• You may enter only once.
• Fifteen winners will be selected in a random drawing.
• Prizes: Promo Code for one copy of Pastebot (Value: US$2.99)
• Click Here for complete Official Rules.

If you didn't read my review of Pastebot last month, be sure to read up on the features of this unique and useful utility.

You've heard me rant about Quirky before on TUAW: it's a company that uses social development (i.e., group-think) to create innovative new products. Everyone who participates deeply in the creation of a product can benefit monetarily from the sales of it, and the result has been a string of fascinating products.

A while back we heard about the PowerCurl, a product that was originally dreamed up by Jeff Scholen of Atlanta, GA. I was so taken by the design and utility of the product that I ended up buying one, and it's extremely useful.

Scholen's original idea was a plastic bracket that surrounds the Apple MagSafe Power Adapter and allows both the long extension cord and the small power cable to be neatly wrapped up. The result is a US$14.99, bright orange device that really has two primary goals -- keeping your cables neat and making sure that there is airflow around the adapter to keep it cool. Quirky offers three different models; one each for the 45W, 60W and 85W MagSafe Power Adapters.

How does it work in practice? Beautifully. In the past, I tried to organize my MacBook Air cables in my computer case, but more often than not they were tangled around each other when I extracted them. Since slipping my MacBook Air power adapter into the comfy confines of the PowerCurl, the cables are nicely tamed. As advertised, the power adapter is cooler now that it isn't lying directly on the insulative surface of the floor.
The PowerCurl is simple, functional, and (if you like bright orange rubberized plastic) attractive. I'd recommend this product to anyone who has a MacBook.

If you're feeling like your MacBook or MacBook Pro is cool, but could be cooler, maybe it's time for a trip to Etsy to check out the selection of custom vinyl decals. For as little as US$10, you can make your MacBook a one-of-a-kind at the coffeehouse, and maybe even pick up a date for New Year's Eve (although the latter depends greatly on your personal abilities to do so).

There's a pretty wide selection of decals at Etsy, but one artist in particular has caught my fancy. Ivy Boersma, a.k.a. IvyBee, has some designs destined to be classics. I'm especially fond of the William Tell and Newton images, but it's obviously subjective. There's enough variety that you can find something that really fits you, and carry it as a classy and subtle expression of your personality.

Ivy also offers custom designs upon request, so if you don't see what you want in her online shop, contact her through Etsy (just sign up for a free account) and let her know what you're looking for.

Join the team, get a MacBook Pro. Not a bad deal.

The University of South Florida wants to ensure that their athletes maintain their academic pursuits while on the road. To that end, the University has purchased 460 MacBook Pros (13") to loan to active athletes. The Macs will remain school property to be checked out by athletes at the start of the semester, and returned before break.

The school will use iTunes U to distribute lectures and other materials. Once the traveling students find a Wi-Fi signal, they can connect and download what they need. "The goal is to create an anywhere, anytime learning environment for each of our student-athletes," said USF Director of Athletics Doug Woolard. "Our traveling teams will now be connected to classes, academic advisors and tutors anywhere in America, or for that matter the entire world."

We've seen large-scale adoption of Apple products by schools before. Last June, The Maine Department of Education ordered more than 64,000 MacBooks as a part of Maine's Learning Technology Initiative. Additionally, the University of Florida (not to be confused with the University of South Florida mentioned in this post) strongly encourages all pharmacy students to have an iPhone or iPod touch.

But what about those USF students who won't go Mac? "All student-athletes will receive one if they chose to accept," says Chris Freet, USF assistant director of athletics. "Right now, we won't force them to move away from their existing computer if they are reluctant to use the MacBook."

If any USF students are reading this, might we suggest these five useful accessories for college students?

[Via Brainstorm Tech]

Apple today released several updates today including AirPort client software, and EFI firmware revisions for some MacBook and MacBook Pro models.

First, the AirPort Client Update 2009-002 update fixes the following issues:

• An Inability to turn AirPort on or off in some cases after upgrading from Mac OS X Leopard.
• An occasional loss of network connection when using Wake on Demand.
• An Inability to create a computer-to-computer network, or share the Internet connection on some MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers.

Next, the MacBook and MacBook Pro EFI updates allow the installation of SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0, reducing the noise of the optical disc drive when waking from sleep and startup. The SuperDrive firmware installation is a 2nd step; you need to do the EFI update, then check again for software updates. This update is available for the Late 2008 aluminum MacBook model and the Early 2009 and Mid 2009 white MacBook models, and for Late 2008 15 inch MacBook Pro models and Early 2009 17 inch MacBook Pro models. (The KB article for the MacBook EFI update may need a little editing, as it refers to a suggestion from a mysterious 'Glenno.')

These updates are available through Software Update, or they're available from Apple's support page.

Hello and welcome back to Ask TUAW, our weekly troubleshooting Q&A column. We hope you had a great Thanksgiving! This week we've got more questions from readers, such as using Target Disk Mode, moving your iPhoto library to an external drive, putting a bigger hard drive in an iMac, sharing a Magic Mouse, good gifts for a recent Mac convert, and more.

As always, your suggestions and questions are welcome. Leave your questions for next week in the comments section at the end of this post. When asking a question, please include which machine you're using and what version of Mac OS X is installed on it (we'll assume you're running Snow Leopard on an Intel Mac if you don't specify).

And now, on to the questions.

Kishen asks:


When your computer is connected to another computer in Target Disk Mode, the connected computer is effectively just an external hard drive and nothing more. So no, there isn't a way to control the MacBook Pro because it isn't functioning as an actual computer when in Target Disk Mode. It is simply another hard drive and behaves accordingly.

Fudzilla is reporting that Intel will release Arrandale-based processors on January 3rd, 2010. Three in fact, branded as "Core i5" and "Core i7," ranging in speed from 2.4GHz to 2.66GHz.

There are two Core i5 models. One features 3MB of cache, a 2.4GHz frequency, two cores and four threads plus Turbo Mode, while the other features two cores, four threads, Turbo Mode, 3MB of L2 cache and a 2.53GHz frequency. Fudzilla prices them at $225US and $257, respectively.

Finally, the 2.66GHz Core i7 model features 4MB of cache and Turbo Mode and can run faster. Fudzilla expects them to sell for $332. You'll remember that desktop Macs received Nehalem architecture processors earlier this year, which these Arrandale processors are based on. If built into Apple's MacBook Pros, they'd represent a significant performance boost over the Core 2 Duo processors currently in use.

[Via MacRumors]