Simply Mac Blog

Posts Tagged ‘MacBook Air’

Jun 201313

WWDC: New MacBook Airs & Mac Pro

by Shane Roberts

MacBook Air 2013

Hardware was announced this past week, although it may not have been the hardware everyone was hoping for.

Apple announced a refresh of the MacBook Air line of laptops! There was no major changes or revisions, just some updates!

intel 4th gen core

The first update was to the 4th generation Intel Core processors. These ‘Haswell’ chips are significantly more efficient when it comes to energy consumption. The battery life of the 11″ Air is now nine hours, while the 13″ is now up to 12 hours!

80211ac

The next change is moving the Airs to the new wireless speed, 802.11ac. This change will significantly change the wireless speed of the Airs. Here is the official statement from Apple on this update:

“MacBook Air now supports ultrafast 802.11ac Wi-Fi. When connected to an 802.11ac base station — including the new AirPort Extreme and AirPort Time Capsule — wireless performance is up to 3x faster than with the previous generation of MacBook Air.”

They also updated the hard drive sizes on the Airs, so now both the 11″ and 13″ start at 128GB, or you can pick the upgraded model that has 256GB.

mac pro 2013

After years the Mac Pro has seen its first update, and boy is it an update. Apple rebuilt the Mac Pro from the ground up. No longer is it the huge aluminum box, but rather it is now a cylindrical machine about 1/8 the size of the old Pro machines. The outside slides off to expose the insides of the machine, and what this bad boy has on the inside is impressive! It has enough power to run three 4K monitors! The processors, RAM, graphics cards, and the hard drives have been upgraded. It is now running high end solid state hard drives to eliminate the bottle neck that traditional hard drives have.

The center of the Pro is the cooling apparatus, it has fans that pull heat up and out the top of the machine to keep this monster cool.

It also possibly has the coolest setup of I/O on any computer. So when you spin the Pro around to access the ports, they will light up so you can see which ports are which for easy access!

Mac Pro 2013

The MacBook Airs are shipping now, and they are starting to show up at Simply Mac locations, just contact your closest one for availability.

The Mac Pro will be out later this year – we’ll have more details as they become available!

To see everything that Apple announced at WWDC click here.

To see more details on iOS 7 click here.

To see more on OS X Mavericks click here.

 

Jun 201310

All the happenings of the WWDC Keynote

by Shane Roberts

wwdc

Whew! Apple left it all out on the table at todays WWDC keynote address. As Phil Schiller said during his portion of the presentation, “Can’t innovate anymore, my [rear end].” Apple came out swinging.

This post will be much more the abbreviated version of posts to come, dissecting each announcement.

First on deck was the new Mac OS.

OSX mavericks

Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks

Bye, bye big cats – hello California land marks. There was a lot to be announced with the new Mac OS. Finder was a big focus with giving features like Tabs, Tags, and multiscreen support (more on these to come in the OS X post). Apple also tweaked Safari and added a great new feature called iCloud Keychain. iCloud Keychain allows you to have your passwords on any device. If you are familiar with the app 1Password, iCloud Keychain fills that need.

Maps is also coming to Mac. This is great, because if you look at directions on your Mac, you can transfer them to your iPhone within Maps!

An underrated announcement for OSX is iBooks for Mac! This is great, you can now read your books on your Mac if you have it handy, or if you’re a student, textbook functions are awesome. Taking notes within your textbooks is going to be a great feature within iBooks, not to mention making note cards will be a great help.

iWork for iCloud

iWork is a great application for those of us who are not huge fans of Office. The great thing about iWork for iCloud is, like Google Docs, you can access/edit your files from any document from any device with a web browser! The main thing about iWork is that it is a full service suite, unlike Google Docs.

MacBook Air 2013

New MacBook Airs

Apple did update the MacBook Air lines with the new Intel 4th generation Core processors. They increased to an ‘all day’ battery life – nine hours of battery in 11″,  the 13″ has 12 hours of battery. Also, Apple has thrown the newer, faster 802.11ac wireless chips into the Airs, that means much faster wireless in your laptop! Apple did also add more hard drive space, doubling the capacity.

New Mac Pro

mac pro 2013

Apple gave everyone a sneak peak at the next generation Mac Pro, a computer that hasn’t seen an update since 2008. A major shift from the aluminum box to this cylinder shaped machine that is 1/8 the size. Everything has been redone on this machine, and we can’t wait to see more later this year!

New Airport Extreme and Time Capsule

airports 2013

After years Apple finally updated the Airport Extreme and Time Capsule. The biggest takeaway with these is that they are now in 802.11ac, the newest, fastest wireless signal now available.

iTunes Radio

itunes radio

Pandora, Spotify, Last.fm – you have a major new competitor. Apple announced iTunes Radio today, a service just like the ones previously mentioned. Built into any device that has iTunes on it, iTunes Radio will allow you to create stations, and listen/buy the music you love. You’ll be able to listen with ads for free, but if you are an iTunes Match subscriber it will be ad free. This is great because this could eliminate another app on your device!

iOS 7

iOS 7

The headliner of the event was without a doubt iOS 7. Now there was so much announced here that I’ll do a separate post on it, but I’ll give a brief rundown of what we saw.

Apple completely rebuilt iOS with the aide of Jony Ive. Here is a picture to show you what the new iOS looks like:

ios 7

 

A major redesign of all the icons, the color scheme, and overall look and feel of the OS. One of the biggest surprises may have been the redesign of the Lock Screen.

ios7 lock screen

Add that to the fact that Apple rebuilt and improved upon: Notification Center, Multitasking, Safari, Photo and Camera Apps, and they added features like Control Center, Parallax screen viewing, Airdrop and more! This was a ground up redesign and it’s awesome. Not to mention Siri got a facelift with new voice options, and they sound much less computerized and more human. Partner this with iOS in Car, when you plug your iPhone into approved cars, you’ll get a simplified iOS display on the cars HUD and you’ll have Siri integrated into the car. Keep your eyes peeled for a more detailed breakdown of iOS 7 coming very soon.

WWDC 2013 didn’t disappoint – too bad we have to wait until fall to see most of  this stuff.

May 201323

Which Mac to give a Grad?

by Shane Roberts

With all the different computers out there, it can be overwhelming to decide which one to get for a grad. I’ll do my best to give you a couple of the best options Apple has to offer for grads.

1. 13″ MacBook Pro

The most popular laptop among students for years has been the 13″ MacBook and now the 13″ Pro. It is is what I’d consider the perfect middle ground computer. You get the portableness of the 13″ screen size, while maintaining very good performance, while also keeping a large traditional hard drive (500+ GB) with a disk drive. The 13″ Pro gives you what you’d expect out of Mac, a great, well balance machine, for a great price. The 13″ Pro starts at $1199, with student bundles also available at Simply Mac.

2. 13″ MacBook Air

While the Pro is still the standard, and the choice for most students, the Air isn’t far behind. With the changing tech world of everything being digital and online, the need for large hard drives and disk drives are fading into the past. With the Air you still get the nice 13″ screen size, but it is much lighter than the Pro, due to the fact it has lighter and thinner components. It can also prove to be more durable over the long term. With the non-moving solid state hard drive built in, the fact that there are no moving parts in this computer make it ideal for constant movement – such as in and out of a backpack around campus! That hard drive will also make the computer more responsive for boot up, file opening, and general movement around the programs and files of the computer. The Air also starts at $1199 (with student bundles also available at Simply Mac), but be aware that your hard drive size drops from the 500GB of the regular Pro to 128GB of the 13″ Air.

3. 21.5″ iMac

imac 2012Maybe you don’t need a laptop, or maybe you have an iPad. So instead of going portable, a desktop may be for the grad in your life. When it comes to desktops, it doesn’t get any better than the iMac. With the 21.5″ iMac, you get an awesome bluetooth keyboard and mouse, so everything you’ll need is going to be in one box. If the grad is going to be living in a dorm type space, the iMac saves a ton of space. Also, with the awesome 21.5″ LED screen that the iMac has, in a dorm type environment, this can serve as an awesome TV replacement. Whether it’s Netflix, Hulu, or iTunes, this iMac can also be an all-in-one entertainment/work system.

The great thing about the iMac is you also get great performance. So when it comes to speed, this machine will meet a majority of students needs. The iMac starts at $1299, with student bundles also available at Simply Mac.

4. 13″/15″ MacBook Pro w/ Retina Display 

Retina Display MBP

The above options are the best options for a majority of grads out there. However, if they want the latest and greatest, or if they just need a lot of raw power for something like animation, the Retina Display MacBook Pros are about as good as it gets, especially on the go.

With this version of the Pro series laptops, you get the thin and lightweight design of the MacBook Air, with higher end performance than the traditional MacBook Pro.  You tie all that together with the amazing Retina Display, you have one loaded laptop. The 13″ version starts at $1499, while the 15″ version starts at $2199, with student bundles also available at Simply Mac.

Apr 201216

Deal of the Week: $20 off AppleCare for All Mac Computers!

by Mat Bitner

You got your Mac, but weren’t too keen on springing for the AppleCare protection plan because it was just too much. Well we’ve heard your cries and are glad to be able to bring the price down for AppleCare on all Mac computers by $20. Your Mac computer comes with a standard 1 year warranty that protects it from everything, with the exception of theft and accidental damage. You also get 90 days of over the phone tech support as an added bonus.

AppleCare takes your warranty, and the 90 days of phone support, out to three years from the original date the Mac was bought. AppleCare is a great service and will save you money over the life of your Mac if you run into any issues. Not only that, but if you are the kind of person who likes to sell your stuff for the new model every year or so, AppleCare helps to maintain your Mac’s resale value.

Use that extra $20 to buy yourself some cool apps from the Mac App Store, or go to lunch, add some gas to your car, the sky is the limit.

Jul 201120

Lion, Airs, Minis, Displays Released Today and MacBook Dies

by admin

FINALLY! Lion finally landed in the Mac App Store today, and it’s sitting there so nice and pretty ready for you to download. Go pick it up now for $29.99. Just remember that there are system requirements! For more info on that and how to get your Mac prepped for Lion, click here.

Of course, the anticipated MacBook Airs were also released today. They now feature Intel Core i5 and i7 dual-core processors, the Thunderbolt port, a backlit keyboard, and–of course–Lion right out of the box. They still come in 11-inch and 13-inch models and boast a 2.5 times performance boost.

The big surprise today was a Mac Mini update. The Minis also get the Intel Core i5 and i7 along with AMD Radeon graphics, Thunderbolt, and Lion. This time around, though, the Mini says peace to the optical drive. The mini can, however, use optical drives from other PCs and Macs, and it works with the MacBook Air SuperDrive.

Apple also announced the new 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, which is the world’s first display with Thunderbolt I/O. The Display uses a single cable to connect users to a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac and allow users to access the display’s FaceTime camera, high-quality audio, and Gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, USB 2.0, and Thunderbolt ports.

Lastly, a very sad goodbye to the faithful white MacBook. You’ll notice the MacBook no longer appears on apple.com. Seems sad to just see it go so quietly. I had one for 3 years that earned me my degree. RIP, MacBook. It’s been real.

We’ll have more updates on when all of these products will be available in stores soon, so stay tuned!

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