Posts Tagged ‘MacBook Pro’

Apple updates processors & prices of MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Wednesday, February 13th, 2013

Apple is making the MacBook Pro with Retina display faster and more affordable with updated processors and lower starting prices.

Available from today (suggested retail prices indicated include GST).

The MacBook Pro with Retina display features flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives, and delivers improved reliability, instant-on responsiveness and up to 30 days of standby time.

The MacBook Pro with Retina display features flash storage that is up to four times faster than traditional notebook hard drives, and delivers improved reliability, instant-on responsiveness and up to 30 days of standby time.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now starts at S$1,988 for 128GB of flash, and S$2,288 for a new 2.6 GHz processor and 256GB of flash.

(more…)

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Posted in Announce, Apple, Availability, Gadgets, Mac OS, MacBook, Notebooks, Prices, Specifications | No Comments »

Event: Apple iPad mini Event

Wednesday, October 24th, 2012

Apple introduces iPad mini (S$448 – S$878), Fourth Generation iPad (S$658 – S$1,088), iMac and Mac mini (S$1,088 – S$2,788), as well as 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display (S$2,388 – S$2,788) at San Jose, California. All prices include GST.

Philip Schiller introduces the iPad mini in San Jose, California. Schiller is Apple's senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

Philip Schiller introduces the iPad mini in San Jose, California. Schiller is Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing.

As rumoured, Apple has introduced the iPad mini, with a 7.9-inch (1024 x 768 pixels) non-Retina display and 7.2mm thick.

The new iPad mini with its bigger brother, the Fourth Generation iPad.

The new iPad mini with its bigger brother, the Fourth Generation iPad.

It is a quarter thinner than the Fourth Generation iPad and thinner than a pencil, according to Apple CEO, Tim Cook.

The Fourth Generation iPad is an update that includes a new A6X CPU, a 720p FaceTime HD camera, additional LTE carrier support and faster Wi-Fi.

Externally, the only difference is the 9-pin Lightning connector which replaces the old 30-pin jack.

The Wi-Fi only version of the two tablets will be available in 34 countries from 2 November and can be pre-ordered in 26 countries from 26 October. Singapore is in both lists.

The Wi-Fi + Cellular versions will only start shipping “a couple of weeks after the Wi-Fi models”, according to Apple.

Many expected the iPad mini to be priced to compete with 7-inch tablets such as Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD and Google’s Nexus 7, both of which start at US$199.

Apple's new iMac is super thin at the edges - only 5mm on all edges.

Apple’s new iMac is super thin at the edges – only 5mm on all edges.

However, the iPad mini will start at US$329 instead.

Apple has also updated its Mac mini and iMacs (21.5 and 27-inch).

The later is particularly stunning with its razor-thin all-in-one form factor that has excited the tech community.

It comes with a new storage option called Fusion Drive – which combines 128GB of flash with a standard 1TB or 3TB hard drive.

The Mac mini is available today, while the 21.5-inch iMac and 27-inch iMac will be available in November and December respectively through the Apple Online Store.

Philip Schiller – Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing – also unveiled a new 13-inch MacBook Pro that is 20 percent thinner than its predecessor and weighs nearly half a kilogram lighter.

New 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

New 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display.

Starting at S$2,388, the new notebook has a 2.5GHz Intel processor, a high-resolution Retina display with more than 4 million pixels, and a solid-state flash drive instead of a spinning hard disk.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro is available from today through the Apple Online Store.

In the other big tech event for this week, Microsoft is releasing its Windows 8 cross-platform operating system for General Availability this Friday on 26 October.

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Posted in All-in-One, Apple, Desktops, Gadgets, iOS, iPad, Launch, Mac, Notebooks, Prices, Specifications, Tablets, Tech news, Tickers | 1 Comment »

Numbers from Apple’s WWDC 2012

Tuesday, June 12th, 2012

As usual, Apple has revealed a slew of statistics to illustrate how it is leading the field. Here are some of the more interesting numbers from WWDC 2012.

Apple and WWDC 2012 in numbers

Apple and WWDC 2012 in numbers

There are now  650,000 apps in the App Store, out of which 225,000 are specific to the iPad.

In its four years of existence, 30 billion apps have been downloaded from Apple’s App Store, with US$5 billion for all app sales.

There are 400 million iTunes accounts with credit card. 140 million iMessage users send > 1 billion messages a day.

There are 365 million iOS devices out there, with 80% of these on the current latest iOS 5.

Apple contrast this with the Android’s profile, where slightly less than three-quarters of Android devices are still on Android 2.3.

To date, 26 million copies of Lion OS have been sold. Overall, there are 66 million Mac users.

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Posted in Android, Announce, App, Apple, Desktops, Figures, Gadgets, Google, iOS, Mac OS, Notebooks, Operating Systems, Safari, Software | No Comments »

First Apple WWDC 2012 without Steve Jobs

Monday, June 11th, 2012

A year ago, Steve Jobs made his last appearance at an Apple WWDC. This year, Tim Cook helms his first WWDC as Apple’s CEO.

Apple's WWDC 2012 is from 11-15 June in San Francisco.

Apple's WWDC 2012 is from 11-15 June in San Francisco.

The annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year is being held from June 11 – 15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Tickets were sold out in a mere two hours when it went on sale in April.

Here’s a quick roundup of some of the revelations from the opening keynote presentation on first of the 5-day conference.

MacBooks / OS X Mountain Lion

Refreshed MacBook Air & Next-generation MacBook Pro ships today.
In comes Ivy Bridge processor and USB 3.0, out goes Ethernet and FireWire 800 ports, MacBook Air becomes thinner and lighter, MacBook Pro gets 60% faster graphics performance.
Retina display in MacBooks: 220ppi with 2880 x 1800 resolution.
Highest-resolution notebook display in the world.
Retina Display support: Final Cut Pro, Aperture and Diablo3 now supports 220ppi display.
AutoCad and Photoshop support in the works.
iPad-style Dictation is introduced to Mountain Lion for Macs.
Speak directly into native Apple software, Microsoft Word and Facebook.
AirPort Express available now.
Pocket WiFi router supports simultaneous dual-band.
New OS X feature: Power Nap.
Mac updates emails, notifications and photos, and backs itself up while charging.
OS X Mountain Lion available on Macs in July.
Free upgrade for new Mac purchases between now and arrival of the new OS.

iOS 6

iOS 6 unveiled Beta today, full release in the fall.
More than 200 improvements: launch apps with enhanced Siri, and it comes to iPads, FaceTime over cellular data.
Supported: iPhone 3GS and up, 2nd gen iPads and up, 4th gen iPod touch.
Enhanced Siri launches apps and comes to new iPads and eventually into cars.
Siri to get into the car with Eyes Free: demo: Toggle Siri on by tapping a button the steering wheel.
iOS 6 to get Do Not Disturb feature from Mountain Lion.
Select which push notifications to mute and which to stay on.
iOS 6 integrates more tightly with Facebook, Twitter and App Store.
Share directly from core apps like Maps, Photos and Safari.
Safari offers unified search across the web, browser history and bookmarks.
Following in Chrome’s footsteps.
iCloud Tabs syncs Safari web-browsing across all devices.
Simultaneously see all the tabs open on any device.“IOS 6 will include Apple’s own mobile mapping software to compete with software from Google. TomTom will supply Apple with map data and related content.” – statement from TomTom.
Enhanced Safari features.
Multitouch to help navigate tabs, upload images directly, Offline Reading List.
Passbook provides one-stop purchase of tickets and boarding passes.
No more paper QR-codes and tickets.
Apple replaces Google Maps with own Maps app.
Maps comes with Yelp integration and turn-by-turn navigation, and 3D.

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Posted in Announce, App, Apple, Browser, Chrome, Events, Gadgets, Google, iOS, iPad, iPhone, Mac OS, Notebooks, Operating Systems, Phones, Photoshop, Safari, Seminars, Software, Tablets, Tech news, Ultrabooks | 1 Comment »

New Mac portable hard drives: My Passport Studio and My Passport for Mac

Sunday, October 16th, 2011

Western Digital has launched two new portable hard drives designed for use with Mac computers and Apple Time Machine, with capacities of 500GB, 750GB and 1 TB.

Western Digital My Passport for Mac

Western Digital My Passport for Mac

The Mac-inspired designs of the compact portable hard drives feature matches the external designs of Mac computers.

Powered through the USB 2.0 or Firewire connection, these portable drives allow convenient quick connect external storage without the hassle of lugging additional power adaptors and cables.

My Passport for Mac features a USB 2.0 interface and is an easy way to increase the minimal local storage on MacBook and MacBook Air notebooks.

Western Digital My Passport Studio

Western Digital My Passport Studio

My Passport Studio sports an all-metal design, with two FireWire 800 ports and a USB 2.0 interface. The FireWire ports provide fast upload and transfer speeds and can be used to daisy chain up to five additional drives or peripherals such as HD camcorders.

“The speed of the fifth device at the end of the daisy chain is only slower by less than 10% of the first device on the chain,” according to Sheraine Chua, Regional Sales Manager of Branded Products at Western Digital.

Capacity My Passport Studio My Passport for MAC
500 GB S$169 S$119
750 GB S$189 S$129
1 TB S$219 S$159

My Passport Studio also features encryption and password protection software.

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Posted in Accessories, Events, Gadgets, Launch, Mac OS, Notebooks, Prices, Specifications, storage drive, Western Digital | 1 Comment »

MacBook Air updated with Next Generation Processors, Thunderbolt I/O, Backlit Keyboard and Mac OS X Lion

Saturday, July 16th, 2011

With up to twice the performance of its predecessor, flash storage for instant-on responsiveness and a compact design, the MacBook Air starts at a suggested retail price of S$1,288 (incl GST) and is available from July 20, 2011.

Apple MacBook Air is available in 11-inch and 13-inch modelsMacBook Air is available in compact 11-inch and 13-inch models that feature a durable aluminium unibody enclosure measuring only 0.3 cm at its thinnest point and 1.7 cm at its thickest. Flash storage allows MacBook Air to turn on instantly and deliver fast data access, improved reliability and energy efficiency.

The 11-inch model weighs 1.08 kilograms and provides up to 5 hours of battery life, while the 13-inch weighs 1.35 kilograms and provides up to 7 hours of battery life.
The MacBook Air line of notebooks are slim and sleek in design
With the latest Intel Core i5 and Core i7 dual-core processors, the new MacBook Air is up to twice as fast as its predecessor. MacBook Air also features Intel HD Graphics 3000 and offers up to 4GB of 1333 MHz memory.

The left side of the MacBook Air houses the plugs for the MagSafe charger, USB, headphone and microphone.

The left side of the MacBook Air houses the plugs for the MagSafe charger, USB, headphone and microphone.

Thunderbolt I/O technology provides additional expansion possibilities to MacBook Air users. Through a single cable, users can connect to high performance peripherals and the new Apple Thunderbolt Display, a docking station for Mac notebooks. Thunderbolt can easily be adapted to support legacy connections such as FireWire and Gigabit Ethernet.

The right side of the MacBook Air houses the USB and Thunderbolt plugs.

The right side of the MacBook Air houses the USB and Thunderbolt plugs.

MacBook Air comes with a full size backlit keyboard and an glass Multi-Touch trackpad. The backlit keyboard uses a sensor to automatically detect a change in ambient lighting and adjusts the keyboard brightness according to the environment.

New Multi-Touch gestures are available as part of Mac OS X LionThe Multi-Touch trackpad supports Lion’s new Multi-Touch gestures such as momentum scrolling, tapping or pinching your fingers to zoom in on a web page or image, and swiping left or right to turn a page or switch between full screen apps.

MacBook Air features 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 technologyMacBook Air also features a thin but brilliant, high resolution LED backlit display. Ultra-fast Wi-Fi, enables wireless download of apps from the Mac App Store, data back-up to Time Capsule and quick and easy file sharing using AirDrop. MacBook Air includes Bluetooth for wireless peripherals and two USB ports for easy connectivity for wired and wireless devices.

Every new MacBook Air comes with Mac OS X Lion, the latest Mac operating system, and iLife apps for creating and sharing photos, movies and music.

Pricing & Availability

The 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air are available for order on the Apple Store and Apple Authorised Resellers.

11-inch, 1.6 GHz MacBook Air
S$1,288 2 GB memory, 64 GB flash storage
S$1,588 4 GB memory, 128 GB flash storage
13-inch, 1.7 GHz MacBook Air
S$1,688 4 GB memory, 128 GB flash storage
S$2,088 4 GB memory, 256 GB flash storage

All the prices above include GST. Configure-to-order options and accessories include a 1.8 GHz Core i7 processor, additional flash storage, MacBook Air SuperDrive and a USB Ethernet Adapter.

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Posted in Apple, Gadgets, Launch, Mac OS, Notebooks, Prices, Specifications | 1 Comment »

Apple updates MacBook Pro line of notebooks

Friday, February 25th, 2011
Ten months after its last revamp in Apr 2010, Apple updates its premium line of notebooks with groundbreaking Thunderbolt technology and more powerful graphics engine, and doubles processor speed across the board.

Apple's revamped MacBook Pro family of products

MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to implement the new Thunderbolt I/O technology which promises blistering data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbits/s with high performance external devices. This is 20 times faster than the ubiquitous USB2.0.

Ports for the MacBook Pro notebook

Note the single Thunderbolt port (fourth from the left) labeled with the symbol of the lightning bolt.

Developed by Intel with collaboration from Apple, and previously code-named “Light Peak”, Thunderbolt allows multiple devices to be daisy-chained together, without bandwidth and power attenuation concerns.

This enhances the expandability of the notebooks as the daisy-chained devices can be connected to the single Thunderbolt port, without having to build multiple USB ports on the notebook, where space comes at a premium.

A FaceTime HD camera is now built into the MacBook Pro.

Oblique view showing the ports at the side
The 13-in MacBook Pro comes standard with a dual-core i5 processor and Intel’s integrated graphics chipset

The larger 15- and 17-in models runs on a quad-core i7 and comes with AMD’s Radeon HD 6490M or 6750M discrete graphics. Apple claims that these were three times faster than the Nvidia graphics chips in the older models.

It also claims that all MacBook Pros are “up to twice as fast as their predecessors.”

Pricing & Availability for Singapore

The new 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro will be available in the week of March 6 through the Apple Store and Apple Authorized Resellers.

Front view of the MacBook ProThe 13-inch MacBook Pro is available in two configurations: one with a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 320GB hard drive starting at S$1,648 ; and one with a 2.7 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 and 500GB hard drive starting at S$2,048.

The new 15-inch MacBook Pro is available in two models: one with a 2.0 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6490M and 500GB hard drive starting at S$2,488 and one with a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive starting at S$2,988.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro features a 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7, AMD Radeon HD 6750M and 750GB hard drive and is priced at S$3,398.

Configure-to-order options include faster quad-core processors up to 2.3 GHz, additional hard drive capacity up to 750GB, solid state storage up to 512GB, more memory up to 8GB DDR3, antiglare and high-resolution display options and AppleCare® Protection Plan. Additional technical specifications and configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at its website.

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Posted in Apple, Notebooks, Tech news | 2 Comments »