Apple Anniversary Media Event April 1st + 6th Gen iPod?

According to AppleInsider, Apple is preparing a media event somewhere around April 1st, therefore accompanying its 30th anniversary. This has to be the venue where the MacBook (iBook replacement) will be announced if Apple is serious about keeping their education customers who need good reasons to not move to the Windows platform. I personally believe that the "real" iPod Video (a.k.a. 6th generation iPod) will not be announced any time soon.

iPod sales have been keeping up, and actually staying at the same rate as last Christmas' superb sales throughout this year. Why fix something that's not broken by announcing a whole new product line without even half a year passing by? That will just anger people who have already made their significant $300+ investment. Another thing to think about is that if Apple were to make the screen larger, it would therefore eat up more battery, and there is no extra space in the current 5g iPods, and those have a weak battery life of 3hrs of Video, therefore the 6g would have to be larger in some respect just to house a larger battery.

My prediction is definitely with the iBooks (MacBooks) and also the 17" MacBook Pro, which in my opinion, won't be sold for anything less than $2500, maybe $2599 realistically. I just put my order in for a MacBook Pro 15" 1.83ghz with a 120GB 5400 RPM hard drive. Unfortunately it's not expected to ship from Shanghai :( until the 24th of March. But if anyone has any interest I can take a bunch of pictures of the unpacking and setup process and post them (maybe some different views than all the other ones out there). I plan to order 2GB of RAM, and here's a big tip to anybody: DON'T LET APPLE INSTALL YOUR RAM! They charge obscene amounts.

The best tool that I found is http://www.ramseeker.com where you can just select your macintosh model. I can get 2GB (2x 1GB chips) of RAM for the MacBook Pro for $180, and then I can sell the 512 chip in it on ebay for $50, therefore getting 2GB of RAM for $130, Apple would charge $500 for the same RAM, literally (check it out on the website). That's a savings of $370 - enough to buy AppleCare and a nice case and an iCurve (the 3 necessities that I want). That doesn't just go for the MacBook, it goes for all Apple products new and old, it's a really useful site.

Mac Mini Goes Intel

The recent announcement of the Intel Mac Mini has met much critisism from the general public. I mean, sure the big downgrade here is the Intel GMA 950 Integrated graphics chip. But look at this machine, the new Mac Mini compared to Dells, or any other entry level PC. It's really not that bad. I feel that Apple probably should have used a Pentium M or a Centrino chip for a few reasons. Firstly, to lower the price. Secondly, because clock speeds are significantly higher (even if performance is the same or even slightly worse). This is because most PC users are looking at Dell desktops offering these 3.4ghz P4s, and looking over at Apple's Mac Mini and seeing 1.6ghz processors...what do you think they will make of these? The average user certainly doesn't look for benchmarks.

Personally, I think that the Mac Mini is sacrificing too much for size. This computer, a computer that is meant for the Home entertainment / Home users / Media Center PC is using notebook hard drives, notebook sized DVD drives, and a Motherboard that is even SMALLER than Laptop motherboards. Now the Mac Mini is great, don't get me wrong. But it should be larger. It should be able to house 3.5" IDE drives (both DVD and Hard Disk). For the same exact price of a 80GB 5400RPM laptop hard drive, you can get a 250GB 3.5 disk that runs at 7200RPM and has 16mb. of Cache!!!!! IT'S A DESKTOP it does not need to be abnormally small. They just need to add a few inches all around, mainly in height. Surprisingly, the graphics processing capabilities of the GMA950 are on par or better in some cases to those of the Radeon 9200 that was previously in the machine.

HiFi Boombox - way overpriced...for a very niche market.

iPod Leather Cases - $100 for any iPod (nano, or video)...should be cheaper if it uses less leather, not to mention its half the cost of the nano....ridiculous. They'll be lucky to sell any at all.

Well, At Least We Got a New Powerbook!

MacBook Pro. A very debatable name, but I think that it gets the point across: this is no PowerBook. If you had PowerBook in the name whatsoever, the average consumer would get very confused. Think about it, if you were looking in the store and saw some intel powerbook and powerpc powerbook you could easily get them confused. And it has the word "Pro" "Book" and "Mac" in it, although I would have preffered just MacBook, that would have been cool. You couldn't name it ProBook, because that name if you notice = prob book = problem book, I could hear it already, "Did you see how buggy those prob books were....."

Given, PowerBook has a great ring to it, and great product identification, its time to move on, and that's what Apple's saying.

I believe within a few weeks we will get a new iBook, and possibly a new Mac Mini as i've mentioned in the previous article. At this point, we can just hope and pray that there's another Media event scheduled so there's something to look forward to!

Regarding the recent talks about Apple and Pixar: I think they're complete bull. I don't think Steve would ever give up or sell pixar, he saw what doing that did to Lucas way back when he acquired it. Pixar can develop its own retail chains and outlets as Disney did, without joining Disney's major losses. Pixar is a recognizable name, and quite frankly these days...a better company than Disney, even with Eisner gone (note sarcasm).

Mac Mini + Notebooks: First to go to Intel?

I believe that at Mac World San Fransisco this January, new iBook, PowerBook, and Mac Mini's will be announced. If you look at the logistics, PowerBook G4's have been around forever, over 3 years. The G4 has only increased in laptops from 400mhz to 1,667mhz, a nice increase...but it's time to move on to new architecture. I purchased a 1.33ghz PowerBook G4 12" over a year ago, and now you can buy the same exact model with just 300 more mhz for slightly less...not that big of a deal. The notebook line needs to be upgraded, and quickly. The G4 just can't compete with P4's, Athlon 64's, and Apple's own Desktop G5 Chip.

The Mac Mini is the most fasinating machine to me. It seems as if the machine itself was created just to be a Media Center, and now that Front Row was introduced, and the fact that iTunes Music Store now sells TV shows, proves this point. Pieces of the puzzle are starting to come together. After all Steve Jobs said "this is the year of HD," and now we have iPods that play movies and TV shows, Apple negotiating contracts with some of the largest TV empires (NBC/ABC). And what stands at the forefront of Apple's push into the Consumer Electronic market: the iPod and the Mac Mini.

The new Mac Mini will most likely sport a nice integrated dock, and will have room for a 3.5' Hard Drive. Current Notebook Hard Drives (2.5') have slower speeds, and much less capacity (100gb vs. 500gb). For the same exact price point, Apple can have a 200GB 7200RPM 8mb Cache hard drive in the Mac Mini.

The Deal-Grabber:
The Mac Mini will have an optional ($150) TV Capture card. Either there will be a mini-pci slot for the card, or it will travel on USB 2. This completes the Digital Media goal that Apple has. There you'll be sitting in your living room on your Mac Mini with Bluetooth keyboard, mouse, and remote control...on your 50" LCD TV...watching a show or movie that you downloaded off ITMS. You can then schedule to record a show (at no monthly fee...byebye TiVo)...and put it on your iPod.

If you think about it, this makes perfect sense. By making the Mac Mini slightly larger (or just wider) to accomatate the 3.5' drive, you therefore open up a lot more much needed space. And if you're putting a 3.5' HD, put a 3.5' DVDHD or DVDRW drive right next to it. It all works out. Certainly it's not as mini as the previous model, but you get a lot more at the same or similar price point.

First Review: Agent 18 ClickShield for iPod Video 60gb 5g

I noticed the lack of quality cases for the iPod Video as soon as it was released: there were none other than the generic socks and slip cases. I wanted a screen protector, etc. and I just couldn't find it on Apple's site for the longest time, so I ordered a ClickShield from Agent 18 (I have used the 3g version before and loved it).

I was one of the first ones to order Agent 18's new iPod Video ClickShield Case, and I just received it today. I was firstly worried that the "clear see through case" wouldn't be quite clear enough to still maintain it's awesome black color. I was proved wrong. You can see the black clearly through the case, but don't expect the same overly-shiny finish that you find on your iPod. An immediate observation is that the screen-portion of the case is slightly inlaied, meaning that if you rest your ipod face down on a table, the screen-portion won't be showing, and therefore won't scratch. Nice job, nice feature. The case clicks together very well and securely, and the only parts of the actual iPod not protected are: the clickwheel, the very bottom (including dock and silver surrounding it), and the headphone jack + hold button on top.

The only thing that I don't like about this case is how the hold buttom is set so deep in, that the harshly cut opening (sharp edges!)for it can make it difficult to use the button, espeically for people with large fingers, but it's a minor gripe. This case is absolutely awesome, and there is no discoloration of the screen at all, everything looks as it should. For this price (roughly $20) I believe that there should be an included disattachable belt clip, but hey, these things are getting so small anyways.

Verdict: 8.0/10 (Buy!)

Hello Everyone! My name is Joss from Rhode Island, and welcome to my blog. This blog was created beacuse I love Apple. It's a great company with unparalleled innovation. I'm really looking forward to see what happens in future years, and exactly just how much of a chunk Apple takes out of Micro$oft. The iPods have obviously been quite successful, and arguably saved the company from a previously imminant downfall. If you have any interest in the development of Apple, I would highly suggest reading iCon, it really is an awesome read.

This is just a first post...expect way more (hopefully somewhat daily). But if you want to comment on anything that I say or will say, feel free to leave a comment below (you don't need to login or anything). Thanks for looking, and keep checking in! Don't forget blogs are a place where your mind can be heard, so speak out!



You can view the blog any time at:

http://macrumors.blogspot.com


-Joss