computers posts

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Rumors, Odds and ends

Dept. of deja vu: MacBookMini found in Adium stats

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Apr 28th, 2009

Reader Josh sent along this little note -- nothing too important, just something for you to file away for future reference. He just wanted us to point out that way, way down in the stats for Adium, the IM client for everyone who's not using iChat, there is one surreptitious listing for a "MacBookMini."

Now, I assure you, we're thinking the exact same things you're thinking: these stats are totally bunk, anyone can edit their computer ID to be listed as anything they want, and one stat on Adium's page does not mean that Apple is coming out with some sort of revolutionary miniature laptop.

And we agree with you -- it's almost certainly nothing of consequence. Or, that is, we would completely agree with you, except for one thing: it's happened exactly this way before. A little computer called the MacBook Air first showed up in Adium's stats, and people argued those exact same things at the time, and it all turned out to be real.

You might say that makes it doubly likely for someone to tweak their computer's settings to show up as some legendary Apple test machine, and again, we'd agree with you. But it's a big world out there -- unless you work at 1 Infinite Loop, you have no idea what Apple is testing and working on right now. Like I said, we just thought we'd let you know. Just in case.

Tags: adium, computers, laptop, macbook-mini, macbookmini, rumor, speculation, stats

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Desktops, Hardware

Apple drops to number two in reliability

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 26th, 2009

RescueCom is a company that provides tech support and help from a 1-800 number, and they've released the latest version of their computer reliability report. This thing is actually pretty well done -- it examines just which brands and makes of computers are getting the most support calls, and then compares it to the average US market share for each brand. For example, if XYZ brand computers are getting a lot of calls, but they're also selling like hotcakes, it won't rate quite as high as ABC brand, which is only selling a few computers, almost all of which are breaking down.

There's bad news, however, for Apple, in this quarter's report: they've fallen to spot number two. For the overall year of 2008, Apple reigned supreme in terms of reliability. But in the first quarter of this year, Asus and IBM's Lenovo have had their numbers rise above -- both of their shares of the US market are smaller than Apple's 6%, according to this report, but Apple's 2% of calls to RescueCom still means Asus and IBM/Lenovo have them beat in overall reliability. Unfortunately, they don't show us the fun side of the chart: HP/Compaq end up in the fifth spot, but their 17.9% of all the calls to RescueCom is only the fifth most reliable, not the worst.

Apple still probably doesn't have too much to worry about -- as Wired notes, these are only quarterly scores, and don't forget that this is the quarter in which many people were still learning how to use their iPhones, iPod touches, and the App Store. But this might be an early sign that as Apple grows, it'll be tougher for them to guarantee reliability in their products.

Tags: apple, asus, computers, lenovo, products, reliability, report, rescuecom, study

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, OS, Apple, Mac Pro

Psystar releases Open(3), plays with fire

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Mar 19th, 2009

Say, just for the sake of argument, that you're Psystar. You've been served by Apple for selling (they claim) illegal clones of their machines, and selling their OS (which you claim isn't even copyrighted) on illegitimate hardware. Sure, you've won a minor victory in the battle, but generally, the opinion is that you're a dead company walking -- when a company like Apple not only has it out for you but has pretty legit claims to back themselves up, you could be said to be in trouble. And so, what do you do?

Well if you are Psystar, you apparently release more computers. Determined to stick it to Apple as hard as they possibly can before they're legally wiped off the map, Psystar has announced the release of the Open(3), a desktop running OS X and packing up to a 2.53GHz Core2Quad Q8200 processor, up to 4GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and all of the other usual options you'd want on a machine like this (6x Blu-ray burner, GeForce 9500GT). Technically, the box starts at $599, but as Engagdet notes, even if you max it out to around $2000, you're still paying less than an equivalent Mac Pro.

This is pretty much the computer retail equivalent of Bugs Bunny kissing the hunter. We can imagine Apple's lawyers steaming from the ears at this point -- here's hoping Psystar gets to have their fun while they can.

Tags: apple, clones, computers, engadget, illegitimate, legal, mac-clones, open, open-3, os-x, pc, psystar, release, retail

Filed under: Apple Financial, iPhone

Apple makes a nice jump on the Fortune 500

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Apr 21st, 2008

Apple's headed straight to the top with a bullet -- they went from 159 to 121 in last year's Fortune 500 ranking, and this year, they've pushed their way up to 103. On the list of the "20 most profitable tech companies," they are solidly at number eight -- Fortune says that the introduction of the iPhone and "record sales of Mac computers" have Apple on a rocket trajectory.

Of course, Google's sitting upstairs at number 7, and you-know-who (not the Harry Potter villain, but close) is up at number one.

But yes, there's no question that Apple has really been hitting it out of the park lately, and considering the future (the fruits of the SDK, another possible iPhone iteration, and whatever else they're brewing up in Cupertino), the trends will continue.

Tags: apple, computers, fortune-500, google, iphone, listing, microsoft, tech-companies, voldemort

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, Retail

Apple's US market share still falling and rising with the tides

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Oct 19th, 2006

Yesterday's prelim 4th quarter report was great news for Apple's health as a manufacturer of personal computers - they shipped over 1.6 million Macs, the most ever in a quarter and 30% more than the previous quarter. Today's news of a rise to 6.1 percent market share in the U.S. from Gartner, however, has the Mac web doing the market share dance all over again, as just a year ago this month it was the NPD Group reporting that Apple's U.S. market share - excluding online sales - had risen to 6.6 percent. The confusion ensues when considering MacNN's conflicting report from Gartner claiming Apple's U.S. share just rose to 6.1 percent. Of course where and how these different groups are getting their numbers is unbeknownst to this blogger, but methinks something might have been lost in translation between all these analysts.

Still, while market share numbers might be getting a little fuzzy as of late, we can at least trust Apple's announcement of selling the most.Macs.evar in a quarter, and that's alright with me.

Tags: analyst, analysts, computers, gartner, hardware, mac, macnn, macs, market share, MarketShare, npd group, NpdGroup, percent, percentage, united states, UnitedStates, us

Filed under: Hardware, Software, Cult of Mac

You know your tech lust is bad when...

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 2nd, 2006

...all monetary amounts translate into Apple/computer/gadget purchases. Let me explain.

A friend of mine told me he lost his wallet containing $300 on the bus the other day (he since recovered the wallet, cash and all). I then told a fellow Mac using friend about this unfortunate event, and the first thing he says is "Yikes! That's almost a mini!" (To be fair, this friend is in the market for a Mac mini.) This dialog got me wondering: how bad can tech lust get?

I'm not talking about the Apple fanboys who can't resist the urge to bash Windows and blindly proclaim Apple's infallibility and perfect security track record (even though neither exist) on every blog post and forum thread they invade. I'm asking: what lengths or depths have you or a family member/friend gone to for that *one* gadget, or for the Mac you're reading this on now? Feel free to share your stories of obsession and desperation involving Macs and gadgets - we won't hold them against you (much).

Tags: Apple, computers, desperate, gadgets, lust, Mac, money, purchase, tech

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