G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed

GTechnology kicks out USB 30 GDrives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro wellfed

If you've just picked up a MacBook Pro with Retina display or a 2012-era MacBook Air, you may be jonesing for a matching external hard drive to take advantage of that much-awaited USB 3.0 support. G-Technology has you covered -- and how. Updated versions of the laptop-oriented G-Drive Mini, Mobile and Slim (you're looking at the Mobile up top) all roll in the higher peak speeds and progressively trade raw speed as well as 1TB capacities for sleekness, while the twin-drive, 1.5TB G-RAID Mini will tax that 5Gbps bandwidth without becoming too ungainly. Not taking your external storage on the road? The single-disk G-Drive now climbs to 4TB in addition to jumping on the USB 3.0 bandwagon, and the dual-drive G-RAID will serve up as much as 8TB at the newly brisk speeds. All but the G-Drive Slim support FireWire to ease those jitters over transitioning from old to new, although they won't all arrive at the same time. Most of the G-Drive and G-RAID gear will be showing up in August at prices between $110 and $810, but the two Mini-labelled drives could be a bit late to the party with a less defined summer target. You can get the full scoop after the break.

Continue reading G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed

G-Technology kicks out USB 3.0 G-Drives for Macs, keeps your Retina MacBook Pro well-fed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 03:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iFixit tears down the new MacBook Pro’s Retina display, finds a minor marvel of engineering

iFixit tears down the new MacBook Pro's Retina display, finds a minor marvel of engineering

We've already seen them go to town on the body of the MacBook Pro with Retina display, but the staffers at iFixit have seen fit to disassemble the 2880 x 1800 panel at the heart of the new beast. As they've since found out, it takes no less than a rethink of LCD construction to make that kind of resolution work in a laptop screen that's thinner than its ancestor. The unibody aluminum casing acts as the frame for the display, and the LCD becomes its own front glass; even the wireless antennas are threaded through the hinges to eke out that last drop of space. Combined, Apple's part layouts do make repair near-impossible -- the teardown gurus at iFixit ended up cracking the glass despite their knowledge. The team is nonetheless a little more forgiving on the lack of repairability here than with the computer underneath, noting that something had to give for Apple to have its high-resolution cake and eat it too. That just won't be much of a consolation if your MacBook Pro faceplants and requires a whole LCD swap.

iFixit tears down the new MacBook Pro's Retina display, finds a minor marvel of engineering originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jun 2012 11:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple adopts new MagSafe 2 connector, offers an adapter for your old gear

Apple adopts new MagSafe 2 connector, offers an adapter for your old gear

While Apple was busy unveiling a completely new MacBook Pro and a refreshed MacBook Air, it also introduced a new MagSafe 2 power connector. The new version is longer but slimmer than its counterpart, no doubt to make sure it fits in the MacBook Pro's skinnier confines, but also renders obsolete the connectors for your existing MagSafe adapter or Thunderbolt Display power connector. Not to fear if you absolutely need the connection, however: there's a new, $10 MagSafe to MagSafe 2 converter (seen above) that will keep your new laptop powered up. We're worried the adapter may crowd out wider USB devices, as you might have gathered from the above shot, but it's good to know that earlier peripherals will keep humming along.

Update: Check out our hands-on photos of the new connector versus the old!

Apple adopts new MagSafe 2 connector, offers an adapter for your old gear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple axes 17-inch MacBook Pro, giant laptop owners weep

Apple axes 17inch MacBook Pro, giant laptop owners weep

As we suspected when Apple updated traditional MacBook Pros, Apple has quietly dropped the 17-inch MacBook Pro. From here on out, it's either the 13- or 15-inch models if you want Apple's conventional form factor. The next-generation MacBook Pro is now your best option if you want more than a 1680 x 1050 resolution in a portable Mac, and there's no internal recourse for an ExpressCard slot if you lived on it. That said, we imagine Apple is counting on two pairs each of USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt on the new system to take care of ExpressCard's former duties. We'd add that it's also the end of an era: Apple was one of the first with a 17-inch widescreen laptop, and it's now one of the first to bow out.

Apple axes 17-inch MacBook Pro, giant laptop owners weep originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The 2012 MacBook Pros vs. the 2011 models: what’s changed?

New MacBook Pros vs. MacBook Pros (late 2011): what's changed?

Since the epic rise of the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro has become something of a dark horse in the Apple notebook family. Sure, it may not be Cupertino's thinnest, sexiest product, but it has the heavy-duty internals to handle intense graphics for artists and gamers alike. Apple just announced its updated 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pros -- not to mention a new 15-inch model with a brilliant Retina display, and these new machines boast some pretty impressive upgrades. There's no shortage of spec changes to keep track of, so check out our comparison charts below to see what the new models bring to the table (hint: highlights include USB 3.0, Ivy Bridge and a thinner design for the new Retina model).

15-inch MacBook Pro (2011)
STUB  New MacBook Pro vs MacBook Pro late 2011 What's changed
15-inch MacBook Pro (2012)
STUB  New MacBook Pro vs MacBook Pro late 2011 What's changed
Retina display MacBook Pro (2012)
STUB  New MacBook Pros vs MacBook Pros late 2011 What's changed
Dimensions 14.35 x 9.82 x 0.95 inches 14.35 x 9.82 x 0.95 inches 14.13 x 9.73 x 0.71 inches
Display Resolution 1440 x 900 1440 x 900 2880 x 1800
CPU Up to 2.4GHz quad-core Core i7 (Sandy Bridge) Up to 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 (Ivy Bridge) Up to 2.7GHz quad-core Core i7 (Ivy Bridge)
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 3000 + AMD Radeon HD 6750M / AMD Radeon HD 6770M Intel HD Graphics 4000 / NVIDIA Kepler GeForce GT 650M with up to 1GB of memory Intel HD Graphics 4000 / NVIDIA Kepler GeForce GT 650M with up to 1GB of memory
Memory Up to 8GB Up to 8GB Up to 16GB
Storage Up to 750GB Up to 1TB or a 512GB SSD Up to a 768GB SSD
Ports Thunderbolt, FireWire 800, two USB 2.0, SD card slot, MagSafe power port, Kensington lock slot, audio line in, audio line out Two Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, FireWire 800, SD card slot, new MagSafe2 connector, Kensington lock slot, audio line in, audio line out Two Thunderbolt, HDMI, two USB 3.0, SD card slot, new MagSafe2 connector, Kensington lock slot, headphone port
Battery life 7 hours 7 hours 7 hours
Weight 5.6 pounds 5.6 pounds 4.46 pounds
Price $1,799 (2GHz Core i7, 500GB hard drive) / $2,199 (2.2GHz Core i7, 750GB hard drive) $1,799 (2.3GHz Core i7, 500GB hard drive / $2,199 (2.6GHz, 750GB hard drive) $2,199 (2.3GHz Core i7, 256GB SSD) / $2,799 (2.6GHz, 512GB SSD)

Continue reading The 2012 MacBook Pros vs. the 2011 models: what's changed?

The 2012 MacBook Pros vs. the 2011 models: what's changed? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge at WWDC

Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge at WWDC

Apple is certainly making WWDC a hardware conference this year -- it just unveiled a refresh of the existing MacBook Pro running Intel's newer Ivy Bridge processors on the San Francisco gathering's opening day. The 13- and 15-inch portables run up to 2.7GHz quad Core i7s (turbo up to 3.7GHz), carry up to 8GB of RAM and have GeForce GT 650M-based graphics 60 percent faster than the previous generation. Like the new MacBook Air, they tout USB 3.0 ports. If you're more comfortable with Apple's conventional MacBook Pro design than the new variety, Apple will ask $1,099 for the base 13-inch version and $1,799 for a 15-inch version, with an upgraded 15-inch model going for $2,199. All of them are shipping today -- we're not seeing any mention of an updated 17-inch version, so it may have been cast aside.

For more coverage of WWDC 2012, please visit our event hub.

Continue reading Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge at WWDC

Apple unveils new MacBook Pro with Ivy Bridge at WWDC originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Possibly fake MacBook Pro spec sheet: USB 3.0, Ivy Bridge and no Retina Display

Possibly fake Macbook Pro spec sheet USB 30, Ivy Bridge and no Retina Display

It's hard not to drown in Apple rumors right now, but here comes another one to help things along. As a counterweight to recent reports of MacBook Airs getting Retina Displays, the label above hints that the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro could be stuck with plain-Jane 1280 x 800. There's nothing to say that this bit of paper didn't derive from an inkjet hooked up to someone's imagination, but some of the other new specs have been rumored already from separate sources: notably the HD 4000 graphics reflecting the presence of Ivy Bridge, plus Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 co-starring on the I/O front. Those hypothetical additions would be great for productivity, but if there's nothing resolutionary about the new Pros then Apple had better find something else to console us with at WWDC.

[Thanks, Josh]

Possibly fake MacBook Pro spec sheet: USB 3.0, Ivy Bridge and no Retina Display originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Jun 2012 06:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple slips out new OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion beta, leaves 2007 MacBook Pro in a momentary lurch

Mountain Lion Dev Preview

Apple looks to be stepping up the frequency of OS X Mountain Lion beta updates after initially keeping the pace slow and steady: it just posted a new, unceremoniously titled 12A206J build for developers. What the update fixes in the Developer Preview isn't clear, but there are still glitches with Fast User Switching, Java applets, sharing menus and Notes syncing with iTunes, among a handful of other showstoppers. There's also a major heads-up for those who own mid-2007 MacBook Pros, as they can't properly run Mountain Lion at all until another update. We wouldn't be surprised if there's another fix in store ahead of WWDC next month, and there's still all of the summer left for Apple to put the final polish on the OS and make its release target.

Apple slips out new OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion beta, leaves 2007 MacBook Pro in a momentary lurch originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 01:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MacBook Pro and iMac with next-gen Ivy Bridge processors crop up on benchmarks (update)

Image

Yup, Apples are bound to flow beneath the Ivy Bridge at some point, but how much of a performance boost will they deliver? If you're happy to hold onto a little skepticism, then two unexpected appearances on the Geekbench site could offer some early answers. The first purports to be an unknown 'MacBookPro9,1' laptop powered by an Ivy Bridge Core i7-3820QM running at 2.7GHz, which achieved a benchmark of 12252 -- that's around 17 percent better than a current equivalent Core i7 15-inch or 17-inch MacBook Pro. The second benchmark comes from an 'iMac13,2' running off Intel's next-gen Core i7-3770 desktop chip clocked at 3.4GHz, which only merits a score of 12183 because it's hobbled by 4GB of RAM. If you exclude memory and compare only the CPU integer and floating point scores, then you're looking at a roughly nine percent gain over a current 27-inch iMac with a 3.4Ghz Core i7-2600 processor. Now, these benchmarks could be faked, or represent non-final hardware, but the motherboard codes look valid (see the source links) and they generally tally with what we've come to expect from Ivy Bridge: a healthy oar-stroke forwards, but nothing that would frighten the fish.

Update: 9to5Mac has done some digging and come up with a few more interesting tidbits about the upcoming MacBook Pro refresh. For one, code pulled from the Mountain Lion beta appears to indicate that the Ivy Bridge machines will boast USB 3.0 and a new GPU in the NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M. The site also claims that the laptops will be slimmer than the current gen, a rumor that we've been hearing for quite some time now.

MacBook Pro and iMac with next-gen Ivy Bridge processors crop up on benchmarks (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 May 2012 08:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rumor: Ultra-Slim Apple Sub-Notebook to hit at Macworld Expo 2008


Yesterday Jim Goldman on business TV channel CNBC told the world about a sub-notebook half as thin as the current Apple MacBook Pro, that Steve Jobs would unveil at the MacWorld Expo in January 2008...