macbook
Apple Mac Mini Review
January 27, 2010
Last week I bought myself an Apple Mac Mini and after a few mishaps regarding video adapters, I finally got it up and running towards the end of the week. Needless to say I was growing ever more impatient as it was sat on my desk doing little more than collecting dust and awaiting the arrival of the correct adapter.
Having been an avid Windows user for my entire life up to this point, I was originally apprehensive about switching. Obviously, I have had the odd experience with Mac OS X before and was impressed to say the least, but I have not had the opportunity before now to explore the entire operating system. Anyway, on with the Mac Mini review!
Even before I had torn through the Mac Mini’s packaging on delivery, you could tell just how tiny the machine was. The entire box was easy to carry in one hand which is remarkable considering this is no lightweight in terms of performance or build quality. I opted for the basic model as I decided the extra juice was unnecessary for my purpose with the machine.
Continue reading »Apple MacBook Pro Review (Aluminium Unibody)
January 27, 2010
Or perhaps this article should be titled “Why Apple’s Unibody Macbook Pro’s are the best ever made…and why you might want to wait until you buy!”
We first saw Apple’s new ‘Unibody’ line of Macbook’s and Macbook Pro’s in October 2008, and they were subsequently updated 8 months later to include the 13” Macbook Pro. There’s no doubt that the new look unibody enclosure was a much needed upgrade to the dating look of the previous Macbook Pro, but aesthetics aside, they definitely packed a punch with new NVIDIA graphics and the option of dual graphics cards in the Pro (the integrated 9400M and the more powerful 9600M GT).
Continue reading »Apple Tablet Preview & Consumer Survey Results
January 26, 2010
Just a quick reminder for those Apple fans out there! Apple (and presumably Steve Jobs) are holding a press event tomorrow, 6PM GMT, to show off its ‘latest creation’ to the world. You can get all the news from the event as soon as it’s over, as Zath will be covering the main stories of the day!
Everyone will be hoping that we finally see the much rumoured Apple tablet or slate product that these rumours have been teasing us about for so long, but will you buy one?
Continue reading »Apple Tablet Update: To Be Named The iSlate?
January 3, 2010
A week’s a long time in technology, and it’s one hell of a long time when it comes to Apple rumours… Naturally, since 28th December 2009 when we posed the question of the Apple Tablet appearing in 2010?, more rumours have been making their way across the net and a January 26th release looks very likely, even if we still have no idea what the damn thing will be called! There’s quite a few suggestions going around…iTablet, iSlate, iGuide?
Will The Apple Tablet Arrive In 2010?
December 28, 2009
Of all the rumours we’ve seen in the past decade, the Apple Tablet is without a doubt the most consistently frequent and annoying… When you’ve been hearing about a product since August 2004, (yeah, really) you just want to get your hands on the damn thing! No-one outside of Apple, to our knowledge, has managed to do that, but surely we’d have gathered some solid evidence of the tablet’s existence after 5 and a half years? Here’s what we know so far…well perhaps…
More recently, only 2 months ago actually, we heard that Apple’s tablet will consist of a 10.6” panel, which puts it in between the iPhone and the 13.3” Macbook in terms of size. One thing’s for sure, Apple won’t be wanting this device to be known as the ‘Apple Netbook’ – not if recent price estimates are well founded anyway…
Continue reading »Windows 7 Review – Part 5: File and Software Compatibility
October 23, 2009
The majority of testing I’ve been doing with Windows 7 has taken place on my Unibody Macbook. Every time I install Windows on one of my OS X machines, one of the first things I do is install Mac Drive so that I can read files from my OS X partition. You can imagine my surprise when on first boot, my ‘E’ drive, also known as ‘Snow Leopard’ was visible in Windows Explorer, with every file on the partition visible.
Functionality is limited, as from what I can tell from testing, you can only read from the HFS formatted partition – whenever I try to write to it, I receive an error message telling me that I don’t have the privileges to write to the drive. Even so, being able to read from my Mac’s partition without third party software in Windows is a very nice addition to Windows 7 for us Mac users!
Continue reading »Windows 7 Review – Part 4: Performance On Less Powerful Hardware
October 22, 2009
A lot of people are going to be upgrading from Windows XP straight to Windows 7 over the coming months, but not everyone’s going to get a brand new PC to go with their brand new operating system, so how will old hardware running an OS written 10 years ago cope with Windows 7?
According to Microsoft, the system requirements for 7 are a 1GHz processor capable of 32-bit or 64-bit; 1GB RAM if you’re installing the 32-bit version of Windows 7 or 2GB RAM if you’re installing the 64-bit version; 16GB hard drive space for 32-bit, or 20 for 64-bit and a DX9 graphics card. These requirements are almost identical to the stated requirements for Windows Vista, although if you wanted to keep your sanity when running Vista, you probably needed better specs than what Microsoft recommended…
Continue reading »Magic Wand Remote Control – Harry Potter’s Wizard Fans Rejoice!
October 9, 2009
A magic wand remote control? Well have you ever thought it would be really cool to be able to wave a magic wand and make David Dickinson disappear? Or wished you could mute a long-winded politician with a simple flick of your wrist? Well, now you can with The Wand Remote Control from Firebox!
Songbird Review (Free iTunes Alternative Music Player)
September 22, 2009
No matter how much Apple try to improve iTunes, there are still missing features that people want… Say hello to Songbird, a free music player / iTunes alternative with a web browser built right in, available for Windows, Linux and OS X.
When you start Songbird for the first time, you have the option to import all of your songs from your iTunes library, and install various plug-ins that come with Songbird, including Last.fm and the 7digital music store. Installation of plug-ins (I chose all available) and iTunes integration took about 30 seconds. Regular playlists were imported, but my own smart playlists weren’t.
Continue reading »‘Bruno’ Review
July 30, 2009
Bruno (18)
Cast: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Bañagale, Chibundu Orukwowu
Director: Larry Charles
Running time: 80 minutes
I’ve said this before and I will keep re-iterating it: I’m not sure whether Sacha Baron Cohen is a genius or a misguided moron who makes me laugh a lot. He exploded onto our scenes ten years ago when he did a small slot for the 11 o’clock show. Anyone remember that? I recall tuning in for him and the spectacularly dry-wittingly charming Daisy Donovan. Cohen has managed to do so much in that time, not to mention surpass all levels of absurdity possible, that looking at him and not smiling is actually quite a difficult task for me.
Continue reading »
